ChatGPT answers, unedited

For an agency building multiple wholesale stores for different clients, I would avoid choosing a platform purely on “B2B features.” The bigger question is: can you create a repeatable delivery model with isolated tenants, reusable integrations, centralized operations, and predictable maintenance?

My shortlist:

1. BigCommerce — Best default for an agency scaling many B2B stores

Best fit: mid-market wholesalers, distributors, manufacturers, B2B + DTC hybrids.

Why it works well for an agency:

• SaaS hosting (less infrastructure burden)
• Multiple storefront support
• Strong APIs/headless options
• Native B2B capabilities: - company accounts
• customer groups
• shared catalogs
• account-level pricing
• purchase orders
• buyer roles/permissions
• sales-rep-assisted ordering
• Easier onboarding of new clients than highly customized platforms BigCommerce BigCommerce

Agency model:

• Maintain a reusable BigCommerce starter framework
• Build custom themes/components
• Create standard ERP/CRM integration patterns
• Deploy each client as a separate store

My pick if you expect 10–100 client stores.

2. OroCommerce — Best if clients are true wholesale businesses

Best fit: distributors, manufacturers, complex B2B procurement.

Strengths:

• Built B2B-first rather than adding B2B onto a retail platform
• Complex price lists
• Contract pricing
• Multiple buyer roles
• Corporate account hierarchies
• RFQs/quotes
• ERP-heavy workflows ORO INC.

Tradeoff:

• More implementation-heavy
• Smaller ecosystem than BigCommerce/Shopify
• Often better for larger clients with serious wholesale operations

3. Adobe Commerce — Best for maximum customization

Best fit: enterprise clients with complicated business rules.

Advantages:

• Extremely flexible
• Mature B2B modules: - company accounts
• shared catalogs
• negotiable quotes
• approval workflows
• customer-specific pricing
• Large integration ecosystem

Downside for an agency:

• More expensive to operate
• More custom code per client
• Hosting, upgrades, security, and extensions become ongoing responsibilities

I would use this selectively, not as your default agency platform.

4. Shopify / Shopify Plus — Best for fast launches

Best fit: brands that are moving from DTC into wholesale.

Pros:

• Excellent merchant experience
• Huge ecosystem
• Fast development velocity
• Strong frontend tooling

Cons:

• Complex wholesale requirements often require apps or custom work
• Less ideal for deep distributor workflows

Good for:

• apparel
• consumer goods
• lifestyle brands
• simple wholesale catalogs

Less ideal for:

• industrial distribution
• complex dealer networks
• ERP-driven businesses

5. Composable/headless stack — Best long-term agency platform

Example architecture:

• Commerce engine: - commercetools
• Elastic Path
• Medusa
• Frontend: - Next.js
• CMS: - Contentful / Sanity
• Integration layer: - custom middleware

Best for:

• agencies wanting a platform they can reuse across industries
• enterprise clients
• custom multi-brand ecosystems

Tradeoff:

• You become the platform team.

My recommended agency stack

If I were building a wholesale commerce practice:

Tier 1 clients (most projects)

BigCommerce B2B

• repeatable
• SaaS
• lower operational burden
• strong enough for most wholesalers

Tier 2 clients (complex wholesale)

OroCommerce or Adobe Commerce

• ERP integrations
• contract pricing
• procurement workflows

Tier 3 clients (enterprise)

Composable commerce

• custom architecture
• higher budgets

Architecture pattern I would build

Avoid a “multi-tenant SaaS” where all client stores share one database unless you are actually building a commerce product.

Instead:

Agency Platform Layer
│
├── Design system
├── Component library
├── Integration framework
├── CI/CD templates
├── Analytics framework
├── QA automation
│
├── Client A Store
│   ├── Catalog
│   ├── Pricing
│   ├── ERP integration
│
├── Client B Store
│   ├── Catalog
│   ├── Pricing
│   ├── ERP integration
│
└── Client C Store

This gives you:

• faster launches
• reusable IP
• cleaner client separation
• easier support contracts

If your clients are mostly manufacturers/distributors with ERP systems (NetSuite, SAP, Dynamics, Epicor, Infor), I would lean BigCommerce + a reusable integration layer or OroCommerce. If they are mostly brands adding wholesale channels, I would lean Shopify Plus or BigCommerce. ORO INC. BigCommerce

If your clients are mostly manufacturers/distributors with ERP systems (NetSuite, SAP, Dynamics, Epicor, Infor), I would lean BigCommerce + a reusable integration layer or OroCommerce. If they are mostly brands adding wholesale channels, I would lean Shopify Plus or BigCommerce. ORO INC. BigCommerce

For an agency building many wholesale/B2B stores for different clients, I’d shortlist BigCommerce first, Shopify Plus second.

My recommendation: BigCommerce

BigCommerce B2B Edition is particularly well suited to an agency model because its B2B architecture maps nicely to wholesale requirements:

• Multi-Storefront: multiple storefronts can be managed from one BigCommerce environment, with B2B functionality enabled per storefront. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Company accounts: business customers can have buyers, roles, permissions, addresses, etc.
• Account hierarchies: parent/child company structures support franchises, subsidiaries, and large corporate customers. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Customer-specific pricing/catalogs: customer groups can control what products and pricing buyers see. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Quotes, invoices and net terms: these are first-class B2B workflows rather than things you necessarily have to assemble from apps. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Headless/open APIs: useful if your agency wants to build a standardized frontend framework and reuse components across clients. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Buyer Portal: customizable, including for headless storefronts. docs.bigcommerce.com

The important distinction is that BigCommerce Multi-Storefront isn't exactly "one SaaS database containing completely independent client tenants." I'd architect your agency platform so each client gets an isolated BigCommerce store/account, while your agency owns the reusable application layer, theme system, integrations, deployment tooling, and operational standards.

Shopify Plus is the strongest alternative

Shopify Plus B2B is arguably the better choice if your agency values developer ecosystem, ease of implementation, and client familiarity over deep wholesale complexity.

Shopify B2B now has native:

• Companies and company locations
• Multiple buyers and permissions
• Customer-specific catalogs/pricing
• Volume pricing and quantity rules
• Net payment terms
• PO workflows
• Self-service ordering
• APIs/headless capabilities help.shopify.com

Plus is particularly important for an agency because it unlocks unlimited B2B catalogs and direct catalog assignment to companies/company locations, which is much more useful when every wholesale customer has negotiated pricing. help.shopify.com

How I'd choose

The architecture I'd use for your agency

Rather than trying to make the commerce platform itself your multi-tenant application, I'd separate the layers:

Agency platform
→ client provisioning
→ reusable theme/design system
→ product/import tooling
→ ERP/PIM integrations
→ deployment/configuration
→ analytics/monitoring
→ shared agency admin

Commerce tenant
→ one BigCommerce store per client
→ that client's catalog
→ customers/companies
→ pricing
→ orders
→ payments
→ inventory

That gives you true tenant isolation while still allowing your agency to build a common platform around the commerce engine.

If your clients are primarily distributors/manufacturers with complicated pricing, company structures, quotes, POs, credit limits and sales reps, I'd go BigCommerce.

If they're mostly brands with relatively straightforward wholesale programs, I'd go Shopify Plus because the broader ecosystem and developer experience can make your agency much more efficient.

For your specific use case, I'd start by evaluating BigCommerce B2B Edition as the default platform and Shopify Plus as the "easy-mode" alternative.

For an agency building many wholesale stores for different clients, I’d put BigCommerce B2B Edition at the top of the shortlist.

My ranking

Why I'd choose BigCommerce

The important distinction for an agency is that you don't just need "a wholesale ecommerce platform." You need something that lets you repeat your architecture across clients without rebuilding the B2B plumbing every time.

BigCommerce's B2B Edition has native:

• Company accounts and buyer users
• Customer-specific catalogs/pricing
• Roles and permissions
• Quotes
• Purchase orders / payment terms
• Invoice management
• Shared shopping lists
• Sales-rep workflows
• Company account hierarchies
• APIs for building custom buyer experiences docs.bigcommerce.com

The particularly compelling feature for an agency is Multi-Storefront. You can operate multiple storefronts from one backend, while B2B functionality can be enabled independently for each storefront. Companies can also have relationships with multiple channels/storefronts. docs.bigcommerce.com

That gives you a model like:

Agency → BigCommerce infrastructure → Client A / Client B / Client C → multiple storefronts → B2B companies → buyers

rather than maintaining a completely separate commerce stack for every client.

BigCommerce also supports company hierarchies, useful for wholesalers with parent companies, subsidiaries, franchises, or locations. Its current documentation supports up to five hierarchy layers and 500 companies per hierarchy. docs.bigcommerce.com

BigCommerce B2B Edition

Shopify Plus is the main alternative

I'd choose Shopify Plus if your agency already has a strong Shopify practice or your clients particularly value Shopify's ecosystem, admin UX, and app marketplace.

Shopify's native B2B functionality now includes companies, buyers/locations, catalogs, customer-specific pricing, volume pricing, payment terms and other wholesale functionality. Plus adds more sophisticated catalog and company assignment capabilities. www.shopify.com

Plus is also excellent for headless implementations and integrations. www.shopify.com

The catch for your particular model is multi-client tenancy: Shopify Plus's store/brand structure doesn't map quite as cleanly to "one agency infrastructure serving lots of independent client businesses." Shopify states that multiple brands under the same company require separate Plus contracts. www.shopify.com

Shopify Plus

How I'd architect this as an agency

I'd avoid trying to make the commerce platform itself your SaaS tenancy layer.

Instead:

                    YOUR AGENCY PLATFORM
                           │
             ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
             │                           │
        Client A                     Client B
             │                           │
      BigCommerce Store            BigCommerce Store
             │                           │
       ┌─────┴─────┐               ┌─────┴─────┐
       │           │               │           │
    Catalog     B2B Co.         Catalog     B2B Co.
                  │                           │
            Buyers/Users                Buyers/Users

Then create an agency-owned reusable integration layer for things that should be consistent across clients:

• ERP/accounting integrations
• Product/catalog imports
• Customer/company provisioning
• Pricing synchronization
• Order synchronization
• SSO
• Client-specific business rules
• Analytics
• Deployment/configuration
• Automated store provisioning

In other words, make your reusable IP the orchestration layer, not the ecommerce engine.

That gives you a much better scaling story: a new client becomes configuration + integration work rather than another bespoke commerce implementation.

One important consideration

BigCommerce's current pricing supports multiple storefronts, but the number included varies by plan and additional storefronts incur fees; enterprise pricing is negotiated. www.bigcommerce.com

So if you're talking about dozens or hundreds of independent client stores, I'd have a BigCommerce enterprise/agency conversation before standardizing. Your commercial arrangement with the platform could matter almost as much as the technical capabilities.

Bottom line: for an agency whose core business is repeatedly launching custom wholesale/B2B stores, I'd standardize on BigCommerce B2B Edition first, keep Shopify Plus as your second platform for Shopify-native clients, and build your agency's reusable provisioning/integration layer above them.

For an agency building many wholesale stores for different clients, I’d prioritize multi-tenant architecture, repeatable deployments, strong B2B primitives, and isolation between clients—not simply the platform with the biggest feature list.

My shortlist

1. OroCommerce — my first choice

If your clients are manufacturers, distributors, importers, or traditional wholesalers, OroCommerce is probably the strongest match.

It is designed around B2B rather than adding B2B capabilities onto a consumer-commerce foundation. It supports multi-organization, multi-site, corporate account hierarchies, buyer permissions, customer-specific pricing, catalogs, RFQs, workflows, multiple warehouses, and ERP integrations. oroinc.com

The particularly interesting part for an agency is its multi-brand/multi-site architecture: multiple storefronts can share a backend while keeping catalogs, users, content, pricing, and integrations appropriately separated. oroinc.com

Agency architecture I'd consider:

                    Agency Commerce Layer
                           │
              ┌────────────┴────────────┐
              │                         │
        Client A Tenant            Client B Tenant
              │                         │
       ┌──────┼──────┐            ┌─────┼─────┐
       │      │      │            │     │     │
     Store   API    ERP          Store API   ERP
       │                         │
   B2B Buyers                B2B Buyers

The important caveat: don't assume "multi-site" automatically means SaaS multi-tenancy. I'd validate exactly how Oro's licensing, tenant isolation, deployment model, upgrades, and per-client customization work before making it your agency's standardized platform.

2. commercetools — best if you're a highly technical agency

I'd choose commercetools if your agency wants to build a standardized composable commerce stack rather than rely heavily on an out-of-the-box admin/application.

Its B2B offering has account hierarchies, roles/permissions, custom pricing, multiple catalogs, quotes/approvals, and high-volume catalog/transaction support. commercetools.com Its API-first approach also makes it particularly attractive if every client gets a different frontend or integration layer. In 2026, commercetools' B2B product received strong recognition for its APIs, flexibility, pricing engine, and extensibility. commercetools.com

The tradeoff: you're taking on considerably more implementation responsibility. For an agency, that can actually be an advantage if you're trying to create a reusable internal platform.

3. Medusa — interesting if you want to own the SaaS layer

Medusa is worth serious consideration if your goal is:

"We want to build our own reusable wholesale-commerce platform and deploy it for hundreds of clients."

Its architecture is much more developer-oriented. Its B2B capabilities can use sales channels, customer groups, and price lists, and its framework lets you scope/customize functionality for particular customer groups or channels. docs.medusajs.com

You'd likely need to build more of the enterprise B2B layer yourself, though. That's both the attraction and the risk.

What I'd do in your position

If you're building 5–50+ wholesale stores, I'd actually separate the decision into two questions:

If you want to sell implementation/services:
→ OroCommerce

If you want to build an agency-owned commerce platform/SaaS:
→ commercetools or Medusa

I'd lean OroCommerce when clients expect sophisticated wholesale functionality immediately. I'd lean commercetools when your agency has strong engineering capabilities and wants maximum architectural control.

The architecture I'd standardize around

Regardless of platform, make your agency's reusable layer look something like:

                    Your Agency Platform
                           │
              ┌────────────┴────────────┐
              │                         │
         Tenant Config             Shared Services
              │                         │
       ┌──────┼──────┐          ┌───────┼────────┐
       │      │      │          │       │        │
     Brand  Catalog Pricing     Auth   Search   Analytics
       │      │      │
       └──────┼──────┘
              │
        Commerce Engine
              │
     ┌────────┼─────────┐
     │        │         │
    ERP      WMS      Payments

The key is to make tenant configuration data-driven, rather than forking the codebase for every client. Each client should be able to have its own branding, domain, catalog, pricing rules, customer hierarchy, ERP connection, tax configuration, and workflows while sharing your core implementation.

For a serious agency operation, I'd also require tenant isolation, automated provisioning, infrastructure-as-code, per-tenant feature flags, upgrade-safe extensions, centralized observability, and a clear escape hatch for client-specific customizations.

Bottom line: OroCommerce is my strongest recommendation for a wholesale-focused agency; commercetools is my recommendation for a technically sophisticated composable agency; Medusa is the one I'd investigate if you're effectively building your own multi-tenant commerce product.

For an agency building multiple wholesale stores for different clients, I would optimize for a platform that gives you:

• tenant/client isolation
• repeatable deployments
• reusable components/themes
• B2B-native workflows
• API access
• agency-friendly admin
• predictable operating costs

The best fit depends on how “multi-tenant” you mean. There are two common models:

1. Agency manages many independent client stores (most common)
2. One platform powers many branded wholesale portals (true SaaS/multi-tenant)

My shortlist:

My recommendation for an agency: BigCommerce first

For an agency portfolio, I would seriously consider BigCommerce as the default delivery platform. It is SaaS-based, supports multiple storefront patterns, and has B2B capabilities such as customer groups, custom pricing, buyer accounts, and wholesale workflows. www.bigcommerce.com

A good agency architecture:

Agency Platform Layer
│
├── Shared design system
├── Shared integrations
├── Deployment templates
├── Analytics/reporting layer
│
├── Client A Store
│   ├── Catalog
│   ├── Pricing rules
│   ├── ERP connection
│
├── Client B Store
│   ├── Catalog
│   ├── Pricing rules
│   ├── ERP connection
│
└── Client C Store

This lets your team launch new stores from a blueprint instead of reinventing every project.

When I would choose Shopify Plus

Choose Shopify Plus if your clients are typically:

• brands moving from wholesale spreadsheets into online ordering
• B2B + DTC hybrids
• less ERP-heavy
• focused on speed and UX

Shopify has strong B2B capabilities like company accounts, catalogs, pricing rules, and payment terms, making it attractive when wholesale complexity is moderate. www.shopify.com

The downside for an agency is that highly customized wholesale logic can become app-heavy.

When I would choose Adobe Commerce

Use Adobe Commerce when clients need:

• complex customer hierarchies
• multiple subsidiaries
• contract pricing
• custom workflows
• deep ERP integration
• unusual catalogs

It is powerful, but your agency needs stronger engineering capabilities and a heavier maintenance model.

If you are actually building a wholesale SaaS platform

If the goal is:

"We want one backend where 100 clients each get their own wholesale storefront"

then I would not use normal ecommerce instances. I would look at:

• headless commerce architecture
• tenant-aware database design
• centralized product/customer/order services
• isolated tenant configs
• API-driven storefronts

Platforms in this category include composable systems such as commercetools or agency-oriented multi-store systems. www.shopify.com

My agency stack ranking

For a wholesale ecommerce agency:

Tier 1 — default platform

1. BigCommerce B2B
2. Shopify Plus B2B

Tier 2 — complex clients

3. Adobe Commerce
4. OroCommerce

Tier 3 — build your own platform

5. Headless/composable commerce

A practical agency playbook would be:

• 70% of clients → BigCommerce B2B template
• 20% → Shopify Plus
• 10% → Adobe/Oro/custom

The biggest differentiator will not be the storefront. It will be your implementation framework: reusable B2B components, ERP connectors, onboarding automation, and tenant management.

For an agency building multiple wholesale/B2B stores for different clients, my first choice would be BigCommerce B2B Edition + Multi-Storefront.

BigCommerce

Why I’d pick BigCommerce

The important distinction is that you don't just need “a B2B platform”—you need an architecture that lets your agency repeat implementations without creating a maintenance nightmare.

BigCommerce's B2B Edition gives you company accounts, quotes, invoices, purchase-order workflows, buyer roles, sales-rep access, and a customizable Buyer Portal. docs.bigcommerce.com

More importantly for your agency, Multi-Storefront lets you manage multiple storefronts from one BigCommerce account. Each storefront can have its own branding, domain, products, pricing, templates, etc., while you retain centralized administration. www.bigcommerce.comdocs.bigcommerce.com

And B2B companies can span multiple storefronts/channels, with buyer access controlled at the channel level. www.bigcommerce.comdocs.bigcommerce.com

The architecture I'd use

I'd structure your agency offering roughly like this:

BigCommerce
→ Client/brand
→ Storefront
→ B2B Companies
→ Company locations
→ Buyers + roles
→ Catalogs/customer groups
→ Price lists
→ Orders/quotes/invoices

Then build your own agency layer around it:

Your Agency Platform

• Client provisioning
• Storefront templates
• Theme/component library
• Standard B2B configuration
• ERP/PIM integrations
• Shared app/integration packages
• Automated deployment
• Monitoring
• Client-specific overrides

That gives you a “90% standardized, 10% customized” implementation model rather than rebuilding every wholesale store from scratch.

BigCommerce explicitly supports agency partners and provides sandbox/staging, partner tooling, APIs, headless capabilities, and B2B/Multi-Storefront functionality. www.bigcommerce.com

Where Shopify Plus fits

Shopify Plus is my #2 choice, and I'd choose it when your clients prioritize the Shopify ecosystem, merchant usability, or highly polished DTC+B2B experiences.

Its B2B functionality is now quite strong: company profiles, multiple buyers/locations, customer-specific catalogs, volume pricing, payment terms, and self-service purchasing are built in. www.shopify.com

The catch for your particular business model is that Shopify's multi-store architecture is fundamentally more store-centric. Plus expansion stores are separate stores under an organization; products, inventory, settings, and other data aren't automatically shared between them. help.shopify.com

That's perfectly fine when one client owns several storefronts. It's less compelling when your agency wants a repeatable platform for dozens of unrelated clients.

I'd avoid making Adobe Commerce your default

Adobe Commerce can handle extremely complex B2B requirements, but I'd reserve it for clients with genuinely unusual requirements—complex ERP integration, highly customized pricing/ordering, sophisticated catalogs, or substantial internal engineering teams.

For an agency trying to scale the number of implementations, the extra infrastructure and customization burden can work against you.

My recommendation

Standardize your agency on BigCommerce B2B Edition + Multi-Storefront.

Use:

• BigCommerce B2B for wholesale functionality
• Multi-Storefront for the multi-brand/multi-site layer
• Headless/Catalyst or Stencil depending on client sophistication
• Your own reusable component/design system
• A standardized integration layer for ERP/PIM/CRM
• Your agency's provisioning/configuration layer on top

The particularly attractive part is that BigCommerce supports company hierarchies up to five levels, custom company roles/permissions, and complex parent/subsidiary structures—useful for distributors, franchises, and multi-location wholesale buyers. docs.bigcommerce.com

If your target is something like 50–500 client wholesale stores, I'd take this architecture seriously before considering a custom multi-tenant commerce platform. The biggest win will come from standardizing your provisioning + integrations + frontend component system, rather than trying to make the commerce engine itself multi-tenant.

For an agency building multiple wholesale stores for different clients, I’d put BigCommerce B2B Edition at the top of the shortlist.

My recommendation: BigCommerce B2B Edition

The key reason is that you’re not just looking for a good B2B storefront—you’re looking for something your agency can standardize, templatize, and deploy repeatedly.

BigCommerce gives you:

• Multi-Storefront: multiple branded storefronts managed from one backend, rather than maintaining completely separate installations. Each storefront can have its own domain, theme, catalog presentation, currency, etc. www.bigcommerce.com
• Native B2B company accounts: customers can have organizations, users, roles, permissions, addresses, etc. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Customer-specific pricing/catalogs: customer groups can control products and pricing, which maps well to wholesale tiers and negotiated pricing. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Company hierarchies: useful for distributors, franchises, chains, and enterprises with subsidiaries. BigCommerce supports up to five hierarchy levels and up to 500 companies within a hierarchy. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Quotes, invoices, purchase workflows and buyer portal: these are already part of B2B Edition rather than things you'd have to build for every client. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Headless/custom storefront support: particularly attractive if your agency wants to create a reusable React/Next.js storefront framework. docs.bigcommerce.com

BigCommerce explicitly supports putting B2B functionality across multiple storefronts, including company accounts, shared shopping lists, quoting and invoice functionality. www.bigcommerce.com

BigCommerce B2B platform

How I'd rank the alternatives

BigCommerce vs. Adobe Commerce is the important decision

I'd choose BigCommerce if your agency wants a repeatable delivery platform.

Think:

one agency architecture → reusable components → reusable integrations → reusable B2B configuration → deploy client #1, #2, #10, #30

Adobe Commerce is arguably more powerful when a client has extremely complicated pricing, catalogs, ERP workflows, organizational structures, or custom business rules. Its B2B system supports company accounts, shared catalogs, negotiated quotes, purchase orders, quick orders, etc. experienceleague.adobe.com

It also supports custom shared catalogs with company-specific pricing, including across multiple websites. experienceleague.adobe.com

But the operational burden is substantially higher. For an agency trying to make ecommerce delivery repeatable, I'd rather have BigCommerce absorb more of the infrastructure/platform responsibility.

Adobe Commerce B2B documentation

One architectural distinction I'd make

If by multi-tenant you mean:

"We want one agency-controlled platform where Client A, Client B and Client C are isolated tenants, each with their own admin, users, products, orders, branding, domain, integrations, etc."

then don't automatically interpret BigCommerce Multi-Storefront as SaaS multi-tenancy.

It's excellent for multiple storefronts under an organization, but I'd architect your agency offering as a provisioning/management layer around BigCommerce, rather than trying to turn one BigCommerce instance into an arbitrary multi-tenant SaaS platform.

For example:

                    YOUR AGENCY PLATFORM
                           │
              ┌────────────┴────────────┐
              │                         │
       Client provisioning       Shared services
              │                         │
     ┌────────┼────────┐        ┌───────┼────────┐
     ▼        ▼        ▼        ▼       ▼        ▼
  Client A Client B Client C   ERP    PIM    Analytics
     │        │        │
     ▼        ▼        ▼
 BigCommerce storefronts
     │        │        │
     ▼        ▼        ▼
  Wholesale B2B experiences

Your agency owns the repeatable layer—design system, provisioning, integrations, deployment pipeline, analytics, ERP/PIM adapters, onboarding, etc.—while BigCommerce owns the core commerce/B2B primitives.

That separation is what I'd optimize for.

Bottom line: if you're building dozens of wholesale sites and want a platform you can standardize around, start with BigCommerce B2B Edition. I'd move to Adobe Commerce only when a client's B2B complexity genuinely warrants the additional engineering/operational overhead.

For an agency building multiple wholesale stores for different clients, I’d make BigCommerce + B2B Edition the default platform, with OroCommerce and Adobe Commerce as escalation paths for unusually complex clients.

My recommendation: BigCommerce B2B Edition

BigCommerce B2B Edition

It hits a particularly good sweet spot for an agency: SaaS operations + strong B2B primitives + multi-storefront + APIs/headless, without requiring you to operate a Magento-style infrastructure stack.

For wholesale clients, B2B Edition natively supports:

• Company accounts and account hierarchies
• Multiple buyers per company
• Buyer roles and permissions
• Customer-specific catalogs/pricing
• Quotes/RFQ workflows
• Purchase orders and invoice/payment workflows
• Shared shopping lists and bulk ordering
• Sales-rep tooling
• Multi-Storefront
• Headless/custom Buyer Portal experiences docs.bigcommerce.com

The company hierarchy is especially useful for wholesale: BigCommerce supports parent/child company relationships, with up to five hierarchy levels and 500 companies per hierarchy. docs.bigcommerce.com

Why I'd choose it for an agency

The important distinction is multi-store vs. multi-tenant.

I wouldn't try to make one BigCommerce store into a giant SaaS-style tenant system where all your clients share one commerce database. Instead, I'd use an agency provisioning model:

Your Agency
│
├── Client A → BigCommerce Store + B2B Edition
│   ├── Storefront
│   ├── B2B companies
│   ├── Customer-specific pricing
│   └── ERP/CRM integrations
│
├── Client B → BigCommerce Store + B2B Edition
│   ├── Storefront
│   ├── B2B companies
│   ├── Customer-specific pricing
│   └── ERP/CRM integrations
│
└── Client C → BigCommerce Store + B2B Edition
    └── ...

Then build your agency layer above the commerce platforms:

• standardized storefront starter
• shared component library
• reusable B2B modules
• automated store provisioning
• common integration patterns
• centralized monitoring
• deployment tooling
• client-specific configuration rather than client-specific code

That gives you repeatability without creating a dangerous shared-tenant architecture.

BigCommerce also has B2B-specific GraphQL APIs for companies, users, quotes, shopping lists, invoices, orders, etc., and explicitly supports custom/headless storefronts. docs.bigcommerce.com

Platform shortlist

OroCommerce is particularly compelling when the client has genuinely complicated wholesale operations; it is B2B-first rather than a retail platform with B2B capabilities added on. Current comparisons put it alongside Adobe, Sana, Elastic Path and BigCommerce specifically for wholesale use cases. oroinc.com

The architecture I'd standardize on

If you're expecting dozens or hundreds of client stores, I'd establish three layers:

1. Commerce layer — BigCommerce

Each client gets an isolated store/account.

2. Agency platform layer

Your own services manage things such as:

• tenant/client configuration
• ERP connector configuration
• product import/sync
• customer/company provisioning
• price-list mapping
• feature flags
• analytics
• webhooks/events
• deployment configuration

3. Frontend layer

Use a common headless starter/component system where appropriate. BigCommerce's B2B GraphQL API is designed for this kind of custom storefront integration. docs.bigcommerce.com

That lets you say internally:

"Every client is a configuration of our commerce system, not a new commerce system we build from scratch."

That's the scalability advantage I'd optimize for.

When I'd not choose BigCommerce

Go OroCommerce if your clients routinely need things like extremely complex organizational structures, sophisticated wholesale workflows, or manufacturer/distributor-specific processes.

Go Adobe Commerce when you have enterprise clients where maximum customization, complex integrations, or an existing Magento investment outweigh operational simplicity. Current comparisons generally position Adobe ahead when B2B complexity and customization become extreme. www.iwdagency.com

Go commercetools if your agency is deliberately building a composable commerce platform and has the engineering capability to own substantially more of the architecture.

Bottom line: for an agency standardizing on one platform for many wholesale clients, I'd start with BigCommerce B2B Edition, build a reusable agency framework around it, and reserve OroCommerce/Adobe Commerce for clients whose requirements exceed the BigCommerce abstraction.

For an agency building multiple wholesale stores for different clients, I’d optimize for:

• true multi-store / multi-tenant architecture
• B2B account management
• customer-specific pricing/catalogs
• dealer/distributor portals
• repeatable deployments
• API/headless flexibility
• easy handoff + ongoing maintenance

My shortlist:

www.znode.com

My agency recommendation

1. If you want a scalable “agency platform” → Spree Commerce + your own tenant layer

This is the most flexible architecture.

You could create:

Agency Commerce Platform
│
├── Tenant A (Client Wholesale Store)
│   ├── Catalog
│   ├── Pricing Rules
│   ├── Users
│   └── Branding
│
├── Tenant B
│   ├── Catalog
│   ├── ERP Integration
│   └── Buyer Portal
│
└── Tenant C

Benefits:

• one codebase
• reusable components
• custom integrations
• white-label deployments
• no vendor lock-in

Spree already supports wholesale concepts like price lists, buyer organizations, gated storefronts, and multi-store patterns. spreecommerce.org

2. If you want fastest client launches → BigCommerce B2B Edition

For an agency serving manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers, this is probably the safest commercial choice.

Strong features:

• customer groups
• account-based pricing
• bulk ordering
• quote workflows
• B2B payment options
• integrations

www.znode.comwww.bigcommerce.com

A typical agency model:

Your Agency
    |
    +-- BigCommerce Partner Account
            |
            +-- Client Store 1
            +-- Client Store 2
            +-- Client Store 3

You can standardize:

• theme framework
• integration templates
• onboarding process
• maintenance packages

3. For serious distributor networks → Znode

If your clients are selling through:

• dealers
• regional distributors
• franchise-like networks
• private catalogs

Znode is worth looking at.

It is designed around multiple stores, catalogs, customer profiles, and B2B rules from a shared backend. www.znode.com

Architecture I would avoid

I would be cautious about building dozens of wholesale stores on:

WooCommerce multisite

It works for smaller projects, but agencies often hit problems with:

• plugin conflicts
• upgrade management
• security maintenance
• inconsistent client requirements

Shopify Plus (for this specific use case)

Excellent commerce platform, but wholesale/multi-client agency scenarios can become awkward because each client generally becomes its own Shopify organization/store setup rather than a shared B2B operating system.

My suggested agency stack

For a new agency practice:

Option A — SaaS agency model

• BigCommerce B2B
• Next.js storefronts
• reusable design system
• ERP connectors
• agency-managed hosting/support

Option B — Build a commerce operating system

• Spree Commerce
• PostgreSQL tenant architecture
• Next.js frontend
• shared services:
  • pricing engine
  • catalog importer
  • ERP connector
  • customer portal
  • analytics

Option C — Enterprise wholesale specialization

• Znode
• integration layer
• PIM/ERP connectors

If you expect to build 10–100+ wholesale stores, I’d lean toward Spree Commerce if you have engineering capacity or BigCommerce B2B if you want predictable agency delivery and lower maintenance.

For an agency building multiple wholesale stores for different clients, I’d optimize for repeatable implementation + tenant isolation + strong native B2B + multi-storefront, rather than simply picking the platform with the most B2B features.

My shortlist

🥇 I'd pick BigCommerce B2B Edition

BigCommerce B2B Edition

The reason is that BigCommerce maps unusually well to an agency's "build once, repeat many times" model.

Its B2B stack includes corporate/company accounts, customer groups, custom pricing/catalogs, buyer permissions, quotes, invoices and approval workflows. Its Multi-Storefront capability lets you operate multiple distinct storefronts from a single backend. www.bigcommerce.com

That gives you an architecture like:

                    YOUR AGENCY
                         │
              ┌──────────┴──────────┐
              │  Shared Integration │
              │  / Component Layer  │
              └──────────┬──────────┘
                         │
          ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
          ▼              ▼              ▼
      Client A        Client B       Client C
      Storefront      Storefront     Storefront
          │              │              │
      B2B accounts    B2B accounts   B2B accounts
      Price lists     Price lists    Price lists
      Catalogs        Catalogs       Catalogs
      ERP             ERP            ERP

Important distinction: BigCommerce's Multi-Storefront is excellent for multiple storefronts within a merchant/account architecture. If by "multi-tenant" you mean your agency operates a true SaaS where each client is an independently isolated tenant, I'd architect each client as its own BigCommerce store/account rather than trying to turn one BigCommerce instance into your own tenant database.

That gives you cleaner:

• client isolation
• billing
• domains
• permissions
• deployments
• data ownership
• ERP integrations
• client offboarding

while your agency owns the reusable implementation layer.

🥈 Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus B2B

Shopify is probably the better choice if your agency's competitive advantage is speed, UX, and a large ecosystem.

Its B2B functionality now supports company accounts, catalogs, customer-specific pricing, payment terms, quantity/volume rules and self-service buyer experiences. www.shopify.com

I'd choose Shopify Plus when your typical client looks like:

"We need a polished wholesale portal, custom branding, ERP integration, and we're not doing extremely exotic pricing/procurement."

I'd choose BigCommerce when they look more like:

"We have distributors, sales reps, multiple buyer roles, negotiated pricing, quotes, approval workflows and lots of wholesale-specific behavior."

🥉 OroCommerce

OroCommerce

This is the interesting option if B2B itself is your agency's specialization.

Oro explicitly supports multi-organization, multi-site and B2B2X models, and is designed around manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers. oroinc.com

I'd consider it if you're targeting sophisticated distributors rather than general ecommerce clients.

What I would not make your default: Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce is extremely capable, but for an agency trying to industrialize delivery across dozens of clients, its operational and development burden can become a liability. It's better when a client's requirements genuinely justify that complexity. Current comparisons similarly put Adobe at the high-complexity end, versus BigCommerce/Shopify for more managed implementations. elogic.co

The agency architecture I'd use

Rather than building a "multi-tenant ecommerce platform" yourself, I'd make the ecommerce platform the tenant boundary and build your own agency platform around it.

Core layer

• Store provisioning
• Client/tenant management
• Theme/component library
• B2B configuration templates
• Product/catalog importers
• ERP connectors
• Customer/account synchronization
• Pricing rules
• Analytics
• Deployment/version management

Per-client layer

• BigCommerce store
• Client-specific theme/config
• Domain
• Catalog
• Companies/accounts
• Price lists
• ERP connection
• Payment configuration

Then create presets:

Wholesale Starter
├── Company accounts
├── Customer groups
├── Price lists
├── Quick order
└── Reorder

Distributor
├── Everything above
├── Sales reps
├── Quotes/RFQs
├── Approval workflows
├── Multiple warehouses
└── ERP integration

Enterprise Wholesale
├── Everything above
├── Complex account hierarchy
├── Contract pricing
├── Multiple storefronts
├── Multiple regions
└── Custom integrations

This is much more scalable than creating a custom ecommerce engine or trying to force all clients into one database.

My ranking for your specific agency model:

1. BigCommerce B2B Edition — best balance of B2B depth, SaaS operations, APIs and multi-storefront.
2. Shopify Plus — best if speed/CX and mainstream wholesale requirements dominate.
3. OroCommerce — best if you're deliberately becoming a specialist B2B/distributor agency.
4. Adobe Commerce — reserve for clients whose complexity genuinely demands it.

If you expect to build 20–100+ client stores, I'd strongly favor BigCommerce + your own reusable agency provisioning/configuration layer rather than trying to create a custom multi-tenant commerce platform. www.bigcommerce.comwww.bigcommerce.com

For an agency building multiple wholesale/B2B stores for different clients, I’d shortlist BigCommerce B2B Edition first, with commercetools as the choice when you need a much more custom/headless architecture.

My recommendation: BigCommerce B2B Edition

BigCommerce is probably the best balance of agency scalability + native B2B functionality + manageable implementation effort.

Why it fits an agency model:

• Multi-Storefront: multiple brands, domains, regions, or customer segments can run from one backend. Storefronts can have distinct themes, catalogs, currencies, domains, etc. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Real B2B account structures: companies, subsidiaries, users, roles, permissions, and account hierarchies. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Wholesale pricing: customer groups and price lists let you expose different products/prices to different accounts.
• Quotes + purchase orders + invoices: these are native B2B workflows rather than things you'd have to bolt on with apps. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Buyer portal: buyers get reordering, shopping lists, quotes, invoices, company users and permissions. It can also be customized for headless implementations. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Headless/API support: useful if your agency wants to standardize a frontend architecture while letting BigCommerce handle commerce/B2B primitives.
• Agency-friendly reuse: you can establish a reference architecture, component library, integration patterns and deployment process, then adapt them per client instead of reinventing the commerce backend.

The particularly important distinction is that BigCommerce's Company model is already designed around B2B buyers, rather than treating wholesale customers as glorified retail customer accounts.

Where I'd use commercetools instead

commercetools is my pick if your agency is building large, highly customized commerce systems and has strong engineering capabilities.

It has sophisticated B2B concepts such as Business Units, hierarchical organizations, granular roles, company-specific assortments/pricing and flexible commerce APIs. commercetools.com

The tradeoff is that you're buying a commerce platform/toolkit, not as turnkey a wholesale-store solution. Your agency takes on substantially more architecture, frontend, orchestration and operational responsibility.

How I'd rank them for your use case

For an agency, I'd favor BigCommerce unless you have a strong reason to go composable.

The architecture I'd aim for is:

Agency platform layer
→ standardized BigCommerce configuration
→ reusable B2B data model
→ reusable integrations (ERP/PIM/CRM)
→ reusable frontend/component library
→ client-specific branding + business rules
→ automated provisioning/deployment

That gives you a repeatable implementation factory rather than maintaining a bespoke ecommerce stack for every client.

One caveat: if by "multi-tenant" you literally mean one SaaS application where your agency provisions isolated tenants/clients inside a single commerce installation, rather than multiple storefronts for separate merchants, I'd evaluate the architecture differently. BigCommerce's Multi-Storefront model is excellent for multiple storefronts within a merchant account, but that's not identical to a true multi-tenant SaaS architecture. www.bigcommerce.com

If that's your model, I can lay out a recommended multi-tenant architecture (tenant isolation, catalog/pricing model, ERP integrations, provisioning, frontend, and deployment strategy) and compare BigCommerce vs commercetools vs Oro specifically for it.

For an agency building many wholesale stores for different clients, I’d shortlist these three—but my default recommendation is BigCommerce B2B Edition.

My ranking

1. BigCommerce B2B Edition — my default choice

This is probably the sweet spot for an agency.

BigCommerce supports Multi-Storefront, letting you manage multiple storefronts from one account, while B2B Edition provides customer groups, custom pricing/catalogs, company hierarchies, buyer portals, and other wholesale functionality. www.bigcommerce.comdocs.bigcommerce.com

For your architecture, I'd think of it as:

Agency
→ Client A → Storefront A
→ Client B → Storefront B
→ Client C → Storefront C

Then build a reusable agency layer around the platform:

• standardized theme/design system
• reusable B2B components
• ERP connectors
• product/catalog import
• customer/company provisioning
• pricing rules
• quote/order workflows
• analytics
• deployment/configuration automation

The important caveat: BigCommerce Multi-Storefront isn't the same thing as putting unrelated clients into one database tenant. For strong client isolation, I'd generally give each client their own BigCommerce account/store and use your agency platform to orchestrate them. BigCommerce's own documentation positions Multi-Storefront around multiple brands, regions and channels within a merchant account. www.bigcommerce.comdocs.bigcommerce.com

That makes it especially attractive if your business model is "we launch and operate 20–100 independent client stores."

2. commercetools — best if you're building a real commerce platform

This becomes more interesting if you're not merely deploying stores, but building an agency-owned commerce infrastructure.

commercetools explicitly models Projects as isolated tenant boundaries. Each Project contains its own customers, products, carts, orders, discounts, etc., and API requests are scoped to that Project. docs.commercetools.com

Within a Project, you can then create multiple Stores with their own data fencing, catalogs, pricing and inventory contexts. docs.commercetools.com

So you could architect:

Agency Platform
│
├── Client A → Project A
│   ├── Store A-US
│   └── Store A-CA
│
├── Client B → Project B
│   └── Store B-US
│
└── Client C → Project C
    ├── Store C-US
    └── Store C-EU

That's a much cleaner technical multi-tenant model than trying to force dozens of unrelated clients into a traditional ecommerce installation.

The tradeoff is that you're taking on substantially more architecture work. It's ideal if your agency has strong engineering resources and wants a reusable headless/composable commerce platform rather than a turnkey storefront solution.

3. OroCommerce — best for genuinely complex wholesale

If your clients are manufacturers, distributors, industrial suppliers, etc., I'd seriously evaluate OroCommerce.

It has multi-organization, multi-site and multi-business-model capabilities, with customer hierarchies, complex pricing, catalogs and workflows built around B2B rather than bolted onto a retail platform. oroinc.com

Oro specifically positions itself for multi-org/multi-site and high-volume enterprise operations. oroinc.com

I'd choose this over BigCommerce when clients routinely need things like:

• sophisticated account hierarchies
• contract/customer-specific pricing
• RFQs
• sales-rep workflows
• complicated approval processes
• multiple organizations under one customer
• distributor/manufacturer workflows
• deep ERP integration

What about Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is very attractive if your clients are B2B + B2C and you want the easiest ecosystem for your agency.

Shopify's current B2B model supports companies, company locations, catalogs, negotiated pricing, payment terms and buyer-specific product availability. shopify.dev

But I wouldn't make it my default wholesale platform if your agency's niche is complex B2B. BigCommerce/Oro/commercetools give you a more natural architecture for wholesale-heavy requirements.

What I'd do in your position

If your agency expects something like:

10–100+ independent wholesale clients → repeatable implementations → SaaS hosting → moderate-to-complex B2B

I'd build around BigCommerce B2B Edition first.

If the ambition is:

"We're building our own multi-tenant commerce platform and storefront factory"

I'd choose commercetools.

If the clients are predominantly:

manufacturers/distributors with very complicated B2B processes

I'd choose OroCommerce.

The key architectural decision is to separate your agency's tenant/control plane from the commerce platform's tenant/store layer. Don't build every client as a bespoke ecommerce project. Build a provisioning/configuration layer that can spin up a client, configure its B2B model, connect ERP, seed catalog/pricing, deploy the storefront, and apply your design system from a common codebase.

That is what will actually make the agency scalable—not just the choice of ecommerce platform.

For an agency building many wholesale/B2B stores for different clients, I’d put BigCommerce B2B Edition at the top of the shortlist.

My recommendation: BigCommerce B2B Edition

It hits a particularly good balance between B2B functionality, multi-store capability, APIs, and agency-friendly implementation.

Why I’d favor it for your model:

• Multi-storefront: you can manage multiple storefront experiences from a backend, which is useful for clients with brands, regions, or separate B2B/B2C sites. www.bigcommerce.com
• Native B2B accounts: company hierarchies, multiple buyers, roles/permissions, sales reps, etc. docs.bigcommerce.com
• B2B pricing: customer groups and SKU-level price lists support customer-specific wholesale pricing without duplicating stores. www.bigcommerce.com
• Quotes, invoices, POs, bulk ordering and reordering are much closer to what wholesale clients actually need than a basic ecommerce platform. www.bigcommerce.com
• Headless/API support: its B2B GraphQL APIs cover companies, users, quotes, shopping lists, orders, invoices and payments, so you aren't locked into the default storefront. docs.bigcommerce.com
• Custom Buyer Portal: particularly interesting for an agency—you can build a reusable B2B account/ordering experience and adapt it per client. docs.bigcommerce.com

How I'd rank the alternatives

Current industry comparisons similarly put BigCommerce in the sweet spot for mid-market B2B, while Adobe has the deepest native B2B functionality and Shopify Plus emphasizes speed/operational simplicity. elogic.co

The architecture I'd use as an agency

The important distinction is multi-store vs. multi-tenant.

I wouldn't try to make one BigCommerce installation behave like a SaaS platform containing all your clients. Instead, I'd build an agency platform layer around individual BigCommerce stores:

                    YOUR AGENCY PLATFORM
                           │
          ┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
          │                │                │
       Client A         Client B         Client C
          │                │                │
    BigCommerce       BigCommerce       BigCommerce
     B2B Store         B2B Store         B2B Store
          │                │                │
       ERP/CRM          ERP/CRM          ERP/CRM

Then standardize everything you control:

• reusable storefront/theme
• reusable B2B account portal
• customer/company provisioning
• pricing/catalog integration
• ERP connectors
• tax/shipping abstraction
• SSO/authentication
• analytics
• deployment pipeline
• client-specific configuration rather than client-specific code

That gives you a "build once, configure many" model.

When I'd choose Shopify Plus instead

I'd choose Shopify Plus B2B if your typical clients are mid-market brands that sell both wholesale and DTC and care heavily about polished storefront UX, rapid implementation, and the Shopify ecosystem.

I'd choose BigCommerce when your agency's sweet spot is genuinely wholesale/distribution/manufacturing, particularly where buyer roles, company structures, customer-specific pricing, quotes, invoices and procurement workflows matter.

For an agency specifically trying to build a repeatable wholesale-store factory, my default would therefore be:

BigCommerce B2B Edition + headless/reusable frontend + your own integration/configuration layer.

If you tell me roughly how many stores you expect to launch per year (10 / 50 / 100+) and whether each client gets their own domain/store, I can also lay out the architecture I'd use—including tenant isolation, deployment, shared components, pricing/catalog data, and ERP integrations.

For an agency building multiple wholesale stores for different clients, I would avoid a standard single-merchant ecommerce stack and choose something designed around multi-store / multi-tenant operations, B2B account structures, and reusable deployments.

My shortlist:

My recommendation for an agency model

I would choose based on your business model:

1. You want to build a repeatable "wholesale storefront factory"

Choose Spree Commerce.

Architecture:

• One core commerce platform
• Tenant/client isolation
• Per-client branding and domains
• Shared deployment pipeline
• Reusable integrations
• Client-specific catalogs, pricing, users, workflows

This is closest to building your own commerce SaaS. Spree explicitly supports multi-tenant commerce patterns where each tenant can have its own storefront, admin experience, and API access. spreecommerce.org

2. You mostly serve manufacturers/distributors

Choose Znode.

It is more opinionated toward B2B:

• customer-specific price lists
• dealer/distributor portals
• complex catalogs
• account-level buying rules
• multi-store management

Znode positions its platform around manufacturers, distributors, and multi-store B2B scenarios. www.znode.comspreecommerce.org

3. You need fastest launches for many SMB/mid-market clients

Choose Shopify Plus + B2B layer.

Pros:

• fastest developer onboarding
• large ecosystem
• easier client handoff
• less infrastructure ownership

Cons:

• you may end up managing many separate stores instead of a true tenant architecture.

For an agency, I would design the platform around these capabilities regardless of vendor:

Tenant layer

• client → store → domains → themes → permissions
• isolated data boundaries
• centralized agency admin

B2B engine

• company accounts
• buyer roles
• approval workflows
• negotiated pricing
• price lists
• customer-specific catalogs
• minimum order quantities
• purchase orders
• net terms

Operations

• ERP connectors
• inventory sync
• tax/shipping rules
• analytics
• automated provisioning

If you expect 10–100+ wholesale stores, I would lean Spree Commerce or Znode. If you expect 5–20 stores/year with faster delivery and less engineering, Shopify Plus-based builds are likely more profitable. www.znode.comspreecommerce.org

I would also avoid building this on WooCommerce for this use case unless the clients are very small; the multi-tenant + B2B complexity tends to become plugin-management rather than platform engineering.