Basic Customer Account
Standard customer accounts found in default ecommerce platforms, suited for retail buyers but insufficient for complex business relations.
- Order history
- Account details
- Standard checkout
Built for Enterprise B2B
The Shopify B2B portal built for complex commerce
Pocketknife extends Shopify Plus with the customer portal, ERP integration and operational workflows enterprise B2B businesses need. Give buyers self-service access to their contract pricing, orders, quotes, approvals, invoices and account information while keeping the data connected to the systems that run your business.
Built for wholesalers, distributors, multi-brand groups and enterprise merchants with complex ERP-connected workflows.
Welcome back
Acme Industrial Wholesalers
Account #ACT-4929 · Main Branch · Net 30 Terms
Account Active
Live Sync
B2B Contract Pricing
Your personalized, account-specific rates are pulled live from the ERP at checkout.
Tier 2 Discount
12% Off applied
Active Quotes
Configure quantities, export itemized quote PDFs, and convert to orders instantly.
Quote QT-2043
Approved
Order Approvals
Respect budget thresholds and route orders to the designated team approver.
Over Budget Limit
Pending
Invoices & Online Statements
Pay outstanding invoice balances online via secure credit card.
Outstanding
$4,120.00
* Pocketknife product demonstration showing fictional B2B interface data.
Proven in complex B2B environments
HART Sport
More than 90% of B2B accounts logged in within four weeks.
Read case study → Modern StarSupports eight commerce sites, multi-brand operations and complex wholesale orders exceeding 500 lines.
Read case study → LivingstoneSupports a legacy-platform migration involving more than 65,000 products and a custom ERP connection.
Read case study →
WHAT CHANGES WITH POCKETKNIFE
Give buyers self-service without disconnecting your operations
Standard ecommerce accounts are not designed for the pricing, account structures and purchasing processes used by complex B2B organisations. Pocketknife extends Shopify Plus with the workflows buyers need while allowing the ERP and other operational systems to remain the relevant sources of truth.
Reduce manual ordering
Reduce manual ordering
Buyers can place, repeat and manage orders without relying on emails, spreadsheets or manual entry by the sales team.
Protect account-specific pricing
Protect account-specific pricing
Display the correct contract pricing, volume rules and account terms using information connected to the relevant operational system.
Support real purchasing processes
Support real purchasing processes
Bring quotes, approvals, budgets, saved carts, account roles and invoice access into the customer’s logged-in experience.
Improve buyer self-service
Improve buyer self-service
Give customers access to orders, backorders, invoices, account information and purchasing tools in one connected portal.
Keep the ERP connected
Keep the ERP connected
Synchronise relevant customer, pricing, inventory, order and financial information without unnecessarily duplicating operational logic.
Help sales representatives
Help sales representatives
Allow authorised sales representatives to access customer accounts and assist with ordering using the correct account context.
SEE THE PORTAL IN ACTION
See how complex B2B purchasing works inside Shopify
Follow a typical buyer journey through contract pricing, quick ordering, quotes, approvals, invoices and ERP-connected order processing.
Watch a walkthrough of the Pocketknife portal and see how Shopify can support customer-specific pricing, account information and connected B2B purchasing workflows.
View walkthrough video transcript & overview +
In this walkthrough, Loris Campanile, ERP integration and e-commerce specialist at Pipelabs, showcases how Pocketknife transforms Shopify Plus into a fully connected B2B portal for wholesale and distribution operations.
- Customer Login & Authentication: Direct login experience with multi-user organization controls and standard corporate credentials.
- Contract Pricing: Fetching precise contract rates and live volume-break discounts mapped directly from back-office pricing matrixes.
- Active Quotes: Building custom order quantities, creating and downloading itemized PDF quote sheets, and converting them to orders instantly.
- Order Approvals & Budgets: Configuring spending thresholds so subordinate orders are paused and routed to corporate approvers.
- Invoices & Balances: Accessing ERP accounts receivable statements, ledger balances, Net 30/60 terms status, and paying outstanding invoices with credit card checkout.
- ERP Sync & Operations: Ensuring pricing updates, catalogs, inventory levels, and order dispatches are bidirectionally synchronized with operational ERPs (Pronto, Business Central, Apparel21, or bespoke legacy custom systems).
Why Pocketknife
Basic accounts vs. connected B2B portals
Understand the operational differences between basic accounts on a standard B2B ecommerce platform, disconnected tools, and a fully integrated B2B customer portal.
Disconnected B2B Tools
Siloed software and manual workarounds that split operational data across different business departments.
- Data spread across different systems
- Manual pricing and account updates
- Email-based quotes, invoices and approvals
Pocketknife B2B Portal
An ERP-connected Shopify B2B solution and customer portal that automates specialised operations without replacing your business source of truth.
- ERP-connected account information
- Customer-specific workflows
- Self-service ordering and account management
- Connected pricing, orders, invoices and payments
- Support for complex enterprise requirements
Core Capabilities
Everything your wholesale customers expect, in one portal
Pocketknife brings the essential features of enterprise B2B commerce directly into your Shopify Plus store, keeping all data synchronised with your operational systems.
B2B Pricing & Contract Rates
Give trade accounts instant access to their account-specific contract pricing, volume breaks, and quantity discounts with rules applied in real time.
- Live ERP contract pricing checks.
- Complex multi-tiered price breaks.
- Instant, accurate cart calculations.
Self-Service Quotes
Empower buyers to build, request, and manage quotes directly from their cart. Review and approve quotes with pre-negotiated rates, export as PDF, and convert to orders in one click.
- Quotes generated with contract rates.
- Branded, itemized PDF quote sheets.
- Direct checkout conversion.
Order Approvals & Budgets
Support complex organizational structures with tiered approval workflows, spending limits, and multi-user roles for corporate and institutional B2B buyers.
- Authorized budget controls.
- Multi-user corporate accounts.
- Email notifications for approvers.
Invoices & Online Payments
Provide buyers with self-service access to historical account statements, credit limits, outstanding balances, and terms payments directly inside Shopify.
- Statements and balance tracking.
- Credit terms (Net 30 / Net 60) support.
- Secure online credit card payments.
Recurring Orders & Saved Carts
Accelerate reorders with saved templates, recurring standing orders, and shareable carts that allow procurement teams to collaborate easily.
- Automated standing order scheduling.
- Multi-user shared carts.
- Fast CSV/SKU upload and reordering.
SSO Support & Sales Reps
Provide a unified, secure login experience with SAML/SSO support, and allow sales representatives to impersonate trade accounts to place orders on their behalf.
- Corporate Single Sign-On (SSO).
- Sales agent impersonation tools.
- Customized user role permissions.
Secure B2B Reporting
Bring approved Metabase dashboards directly into the B2B customer portal. Give users secure access to contextual reporting matched to their role, region or organization.
- Signed, short-lived dashboard links.
- Dashboard access aligned with user roles.
- Zero cross-account data exposure.
Shopify ERP integration
An ERP integration that actually keeps pace
A modern B2B customer portal is only as good as the data behind it. Pocketknife provides a real-time integration layer between Shopify and your operational systems, ensuring pricing, stock, orders, and trade accounts are always accurately synchronised.
Unlike basic sync plugins that rely on batch updates and periodic exports, Pocketknife features a live, event-driven architecture. The moment a price changes or an invoice is generated in your ERP, it is immediately updated on Shopify.
This bi-directional orchestration means orders placed on Shopify are instantly dispatched to your ERP, and changes made in your ERP are immediately visible to your buyers, maintaining a single, consistent source of truth.
Supported Operational Systems
- ✓ Pronto Xi ERP: Deeply connected live-sync for complex wholesale operations.
- ✓ Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: Real-time financial & supply chain flow.
- ✓ Apparel21: Specialized commerce integration for complex fashion retail & wholesale.
- ✓ Exact ERP: Reliable data synchronization for European & global manufacturing.
- ✓ Custom & Legacy ERPs: Adaptable API connections tailored to your bespoke software.
CUSTOMER PROOF
Proven across complex B2B environments
Discover how enterprise B2B companies use Pocketknife to connect their storefronts with back-office operations.
The Complexity
HART Sport needed to support institutional buyers with complex account structures, customer-specific pricing, quotes, saved carts, invoice access, payments and procurement workflows.
Pocketknife’s Role
Pocketknife helped extend Shopify Plus with the B2B workflows HART Sport required while connecting the customer portal with Pronto, allowing the ERP to remain the operational source of truth.
Prominent Results
- More than 90% of B2B accounts logged in within four weeks
System Connection
Shopify Plus
↔
Pocketknife
↔
Pronto
Read Case Study →
The Complexity
Pocketknife provides the shared commerce and integration layer behind Modern Star’s eight commerce sites, connecting product data, inventory, customer accounts and ordering workflows across multiple brands and ERP systems.
Pocketknife’s Impact
Pocketknife created a shared integration and B2B workflow layer supporting Shopify Plus and ERP-connected commerce across the group.
Proof Points
- Eight commerce sites
- Complex wholesale orders exceeding 500 line items
- Multi-brand and multi-ERP operations
- cXML and OCI procurement workflows
System Connection
Shopify Plus
↔
Pocketknife
↔
Pronto Xi
Capabilities & Tech
View Case Study →
The Complexity
Rebuilding and migrating from a complex legacy commerce platform supporting more than 65,000 products with difficult wholesale distribution requirements.
Pocketknife’s Impact
Pocketknife connected the Shopify Plus storefront with the custom ERP to automate catalogue synchronisation, reducing manual operational overhead and improving ordering efficiency.
Proof Points
- 65,000+ products
- Legacy platform migration
- Reduced operational overhead
System Connection
Shopify Plus
↔
Pocketknife
↔
Custom ERP
Capabilities & Tech
View Case Study →
Who It Is For
Built for B2B businesses with more complexity behind the storefront
Pocketknife is engineered specifically for merchants who have outgrown standard B2B capabilities and require a high-fidelity sync with their back-office systems.
- • Wholesalers and distributors requiring robust order orchestration.
- • Industrial and electrical suppliers managing extensive SKU counts and branch networks.
- • Education and institutional suppliers supporting structured procurement processes.
- • Multi-brand commerce groups centralising operations across multiple storefronts.
- • Enterprise retailers with B2B channels looking to unify their wholesale operations.
- • Businesses migrating from legacy ecommerce platforms to modern headless or hybrid architecture.
- • Merchants connecting Shopify with established ERP systems like Pronto Xi, Dynamics 365, or Apparel21.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shopify B2B Portal & ERP FAQ
Answers to the most common questions about extending Shopify Plus with a connected B2B customer portal.
1. What is a Shopify B2B portal?
A Shopify B2B portal is a secure, dedicated space within a Shopify store where approved wholesale and business customers can log in to access their unique account details, customized trade pricing, previous order history, and self-service purchasing workflows.
2. How does Pocketknife extend Shopify B2B?
Pocketknife extends Shopify Plus by adding support for complex, enterprise-grade B2B workflows and deep, bi-directional ERP integrations. This includes real-time contract pricing lookups, self-service quotes with PDF exports, multi-user account hierarchies, tiered approval structures, online invoice payment of ERP balances, and large-scale order orchestration.
3. Does Pocketknife replace our ERP?
No. Pocketknife does not replace your ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). Instead, it acts as the orchestration and integration layer between Shopify and your ERP, ensuring that your ERP remains the absolute operational source of truth for inventory, customer records, pricing rules, and financials.
4. Which ERP systems can Pocketknife connect with?
Pocketknife connects with a wide range of established operational systems and ERPs, including Pronto Xi, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Apparel21, ASW, Exact, Oracle E-Business Suite, and bespoke or legacy custom systems through secure API integrations.
5. Can customers see their own contract pricing?
Yes. Pocketknife maps your ERP's pricing files, contract lists, price codes, and quantity discounts so that when an approved buyer logs in, they see their precise negotiated rates live on the storefront and applied directly inside their cart.
6. Can buyers access quotes, invoices and account balances?
Yes. Authorized buyers can generate, review, and download PDF quotes directly from their cart, check outstanding invoice balances from their ERP-connected account ledger, and pay invoices online securely via credit card.
7. Can Pocketknife support large or recurring wholesale orders?
Yes. Pocketknife supports high-volume B2B orders with features like saved templates, fast CSV/SKU upload tools, and automated standing or recurring orders to streamline repeat purchasing for procurement teams.
8. Does Pocketknife support account hierarchies and approval workflows?
Yes. Pocketknife allows you to configure complex corporate account structures with multiple user roles, purchasing limits, and custom-tiered email approval flows, so subordinate orders are routed to designated managers for approval before dispatch.
9. Do we need Shopify Plus to use Pocketknife?
Yes. Pocketknife is designed to extend Shopify Plus B2B capabilities to support complex enterprise-grade wholesale operations and deep system integrations.
10. How do we start building a Shopify B2B portal?
We start by mapping your ERP fields, matching codes, and the data you want synced, then connect Shopify so the two systems stay matched. Get in touch with the Pipelabs team to scope your integration and plan your B2B portal.
Build a B2B portal around the way your business actually works
Talk to our team about your Shopify store, ERP environment and the B2B workflows your customers and internal teams need.