It is commonly observed that Shopify merchants use the same store for both wholesale (B2B) and retail (B2C) transactions.
Wholesale customers usually can purchase the same product that also offers to retail customers but with a discounted price.
To offer differentiated pricing, Shopify merchants usually do either one of the following setup:
Option #1 Product Based Setup - Setup two products: one for retail and one for wholesale.
Option #2 Variant Based Setup - Same product but one variant for retail and a different variant for wholesale.
A challenge is keep track of the inventory when either side of the channel (retail / wholesale) makes a sales. In the example above, the shop has 100 quantity of 'Blue Shirt' they can sell, regardless to retail or to wholesale customers.
That said, when a retail customer purchase 5 of Blue Shirt, the shop has 95 Blue Shirt left available to both Retail or Wholesale customers to purchase.
Connected Inventory App can help to keep track of inventory for merchants using the same store to sell to both retail and wholesale customers.
Continue with the same example, after a retail customer purchase 5 of Blue Shirt, Shopify will reduce the quantity to 95 for retail.
In addition, Connected Inventory App will reduce 5 of Blue Shirt for wholesale.
Eventually, both retail and wholesale quantity becomes 95. This is correctly reflecting the total inventory of how many Blue Shirt the shop can sell.
The Variant based setup also receives the same treatment. Initially the Retail quantity is reduced to 95 by Shopify
Connected Inventory App will reduce 5 for wholesale. Making both Retail and Wholesale quantity the same.
To start setup your online store to sell in both retail and wholesale, please read our guide: Create an Inventory Group