ChatGPT answers, unedited

For a B2B distributor with a large SKU catalog, I’d put BigCommerce B2B Edition, Adobe Commerce, and Shopify Plus at the top of the shortlist. The deciding factor is how complex your pricing, ERP integration, and buyer workflows are.

My pick: BigCommerce B2B Edition

For a distributor specifically, I'd start with BigCommerce B2B Edition. Current comparisons give it particularly strong marks for SKU-pad/quick ordering, customer-specific price lists, company accounts, quotes, payment terms, and ERP integration. IWD Agency Elogic Commerce

The quick-order experience is particularly important for your use case. You want buyers to be able to do something like:

SKU | Quantity
ABC-123 | 24
XYZ-456 | 6
98765 | 100

…and submit the whole order without navigating hundreds or thousands of product pages.

BigCommerce also has a strong API/integration story, which matters if your catalog, inventory, customer-specific pricing, or availability lives in an ERP rather than the ecommerce platform. Imaginaire IWD Agency

When I'd choose Adobe Commerce instead

I'd move to Adobe Commerce if you're talking about genuinely complicated distribution operations—multiple customer hierarchies, highly customized catalogs, sophisticated approval chains, complex credit rules, negotiated quotes/RFQs, or real-time ERP-driven pricing.

Its B2B functionality is deeper than Shopify's, including requisition lists, negotiable quotes, approval workflows, shared catalogs, and credit management. The tradeoff is substantially more implementation and ongoing technical overhead. Elogic Commerce Imaginaire

When Shopify Plus makes more sense

Shopify Plus is attractive if you have a significant DTC business alongside wholesale and want one modern platform with relatively low operational overhead. Its B2B capabilities have become considerably stronger, including company accounts, customer-specific catalogs/pricing, payment terms and quick ordering. Imaginaire IWD Agency

I'd be more cautious with Shopify if B2B is the core business and your order process is heavily sales-rep/quote/ERP driven. That's where BigCommerce or Adobe tends to make more sense.

The bigger question for a distributor

SKU count alone shouldn't determine the platform. I'd evaluate these five things:

1. Quick order: SKU search, CSV upload, saved/repeat orders, bulk quantity editing.
2. Customer-specific catalogs: Can customer A see 8,000 SKUs while customer B sees 2,000?
3. Contract pricing: Customer + product + quantity + negotiated price rules.
4. ERP integration: Especially real-time inventory, pricing, credit availability, order status and customer data.
5. Sales-rep ordering: Can reps easily place orders on behalf of customers without manually recreating orders?

For a distributor, I'd rank BigCommerce B2B Edition first, Adobe Commerce second, and Shopify Plus third unless your DTC business or Shopify ecosystem changes the equation. A 2026 comparison focused specifically on distributors similarly finds BigCommerce particularly strong on B2B workflows while Adobe wins when operational complexity becomes extreme. IWD Agency Atwix

If you tell me roughly (a) number of SKUs, (b) number of B2B customers, (c) ERP—NetSuite/Dynamics/SAP/etc., (d) whether customers have unique pricing, and (e) annual online revenue, I can narrow this to the best 1–2 platforms for your operation.

SKU | Quantity
ABC-123 | 24
XYZ-456 | 6
98765 | 100

…and submit the whole order without navigating hundreds or thousands of product pages.

BigCommerce also has a strong API/integration story, which matters if your catalog, inventory, customer-specific pricing, or availability lives in an ERP rather than the ecommerce platform. Imaginaire IWD Agency

When I'd choose Adobe Commerce instead

I'd move to Adobe Commerce if you're talking about genuinely complicated distribution operations—multiple customer hierarchies, highly customized catalogs, sophisticated approval chains, complex credit rules, negotiated quotes/RFQs, or real-time ERP-driven pricing.

Its B2B functionality is deeper than Shopify's, including requisition lists, negotiable quotes, approval workflows, shared catalogs, and credit management. The tradeoff is substantially more implementation and ongoing technical overhead. Elogic Commerce Imaginaire

When Shopify Plus makes more sense

Shopify Plus is attractive if you have a significant DTC business alongside wholesale and want one modern platform with relatively low operational overhead. Its B2B capabilities have become considerably stronger, including company accounts, customer-specific catalogs/pricing, payment terms and quick ordering.

I'd be more cautious with Shopify if B2B is the core business and your order process is heavily sales-rep/quote/ERP driven. That's where BigCommerce or Adobe tends to make more sense.

The bigger question for a distributor

For a distributor with a very large SKU catalog + B2B buyers who already know what they want, I’d shortlist BigCommerce B2B Edition, Adobe Commerce, and Shopify Plus. My default pick would be BigCommerce unless you have unusually complex ERP/pricing workflows.

1. BigCommerce B2B — my first choice

For a distributor, this is probably where I'd start. BigCommerce's B2B capabilities are designed around things like company accounts, customer-specific pricing, buyer permissions, bulk ordering/quick order, quotes, purchase orders and payment terms. Independent 2026 comparisons also rate it particularly well for mid-market B2B businesses that need substantial buyer-portal functionality without the complexity of Adobe. elogic.co

The important part for you is the ordering workflow: a buyer shouldn't have to navigate 50 product pages to order 50 SKUs. You want:

SKU → quantity → add to cart → checkout

plus ideally CSV upload, saved lists, reorder-from-history and customer-specific pricing.

2. Adobe Commerce — if your catalog/business rules are really complicated

I'd move Adobe Commerce to #1 if you're talking about things like:

• 100k+ / 1M+ SKUs
• highly complex product relationships
• multiple customer price lists
• sophisticated contract pricing
• multiple warehouses
• RFQs and negotiated quotes
• multi-level purchasing approvals
• complicated ERP/OMS integration
• substantial internal engineering resources

Adobe has particularly deep native B2B functionality, including shared catalogs, company accounts, requisition lists, quotes and approval workflows. elogic.co

The tradeoff is implementation and ongoing technical complexity. It's a powerful platform, but I'd avoid choosing it merely because you have "lots of SKUs."

3. Shopify Plus — excellent if simplicity and speed matter

Shopify has improved its native B2B capabilities substantially in 2026. Plus supports unlimited catalogs, customer/location-specific pricing, payment terms, quantity rules and other B2B functionality. www.shopify.com

The catch for your particular use case is the quick-order experience. Shopify's ecosystem can fill this gap very well: for example, current apps provide searchable SKU tables, variant grids and CSV bulk ordering. apps.shopify.com

So I'd think of it as:

Shopify Plus + a serious B2B quick-order application

rather than assuming the out-of-the-box storefront is the ideal distributor order-entry interface.

What I'd prioritize for your business

Don't make "number of SKUs" the primary platform-selection criterion. I'd test these workflows with each vendor:

1. Buyer enters 30 SKUs by SKU number and quantities.
2. Uploads a CSV containing 500 SKUs.
3. Every SKU automatically displays that customer's negotiated price.
4. Out-of-stock items show appropriate availability/substitution information.
5. Buyer can repeat last month's order with one click.
6. Buyer can save a frequently ordered SKU list.
7. Different buyers under the same company have different permissions.
8. Sales rep can place an order on behalf of the customer.
9. Orders/prices/inventory synchronize reliably with your ERP.
10. The system remains fast when searching across the entire catalog.

That last point is particularly important: a 500,000-SKU catalog with excellent SKU search can be much better than a 50,000-SKU catalog with a beautiful but slow storefront.

My ranking for a distributor

BigCommerce B2B → Adobe Commerce → Shopify Plus

I'd choose BigCommerce if you're primarily B2B distribution and want a strong balance of scale, native B2B ordering and manageable implementation.

I'd choose Adobe if you're an enterprise distributor with highly customized pricing/order/ERP logic.

I'd choose Shopify Plus if you're also heavily DTC/brand-oriented and want the easiest overall commerce platform, accepting that you'll likely use an app/customization for the distributor-style quick-order interface.

If you tell me roughly (1) number of SKUs, (2) number of B2B customers, (3) ERP—NetSuite/SAP/Dynamics/etc., (4) whether you sell DTC too, and (5) whether customers need contract-specific pricing, I can narrow this to a specific recommendation and architecture.

For a distributor with a very large SKU catalog, I’d narrow the field to BigCommerce B2B, Adobe Commerce, and Shopify Plus. The key distinction is how complex your B2B pricing/catalog rules are versus how much you value implementation simplicity.

My first look: BigCommerce B2B

For a distributor, BigCommerce B2B Edition would probably be my first platform to evaluate. Its B2B storefront API specifically supports quick-order-pad workflows and retrieving products by SKU, which is exactly the sort of interaction you want when buyers already know their part numbers rather than browsing thousands of products. docs.bigcommerce.com

I'd want the buyer experience to look something like:

SKU | Qty | Price | Availability
10482 | 12 | $18.42 | In stock
77391 | 4 | $142.00 | 3 days
99201 | 24 | $6.85 | In stock
[Add all to cart]

Then layer on customer-specific price lists, contract pricing, minimum quantities, PO numbers, payment terms, sales-rep access, and ERP inventory/pricing integration.

Adobe Commerce is the heavyweight option

If your business has genuinely complicated rules—multiple customer hierarchies, shared catalogs, sophisticated pricing, quoting, approval workflows, etc.—Adobe Commerce is exceptionally capable.

Its B2B functionality includes quick ordering by SKU/product name, CSV ordering, requisition lists, company hierarchies, quotes, and account-specific purchasing workflows. business.adobe.com

The downside is that you're buying into a substantially more complex implementation and ongoing technology stack. I'd choose it when the complexity requires it, rather than simply because you have a lot of SKUs.

Shopify Plus has become much more interesting for distributors

Shopify has expanded its native B2B capabilities considerably. B2B now includes quick order lists, quantity rules, volume pricing, payment terms, company accounts and self-service ordering. Plus adds things particularly useful for complex catalogs, including unlimited B2B catalogs and direct catalog assignment to individual companies/locations. help.shopify.com

Shopify also now explicitly supports a quick bulk-ordering experience where buyers can order multiple variants from a dedicated order form. www.shopify.com

If your buyers need something more like a traditional distributor order-entry screen—search SKU → enter quantity → repeat 50 times → upload CSV → submit PO—Shopify can do it, but I'd scrutinize the exact implementation. There are also B2B apps that add searchable product tables and CSV ordering. business.adobe.comapps.shopify.com

What I'd choose

If you're primarily a distributor:
1. BigCommerce B2B Edition → my starting point.

If you're a very large/complex enterprise:
2. Adobe Commerce → strongest when business rules and customization outweigh simplicity.

If you also have a significant DTC/brand business:
3. Shopify Plus → particularly attractive if you want B2B and DTC on a common platform.

The most important thing, though, isn't the raw SKU count. A catalog of 500,000 SKUs with simple pricing can be easier than 30,000 SKUs with customer-specific pricing, multiple warehouses, UOM conversions, contract pricing, discontinued/replacement SKUs, and ERP-controlled inventory.

If you tell me roughly how many SKUs, number of B2B customers, ERP (e.g. NetSuite/SAP/Dynamics), and whether pricing is customer-specific, I can give you a much more concrete BigCommerce vs Shopify Plus vs Adobe Commerce recommendation for a distributor like yours.

For a distributor with a very large SKU catalog and buyers who already know what they want, I’d shortlist BigCommerce B2B, Adobe Commerce, and Shopify Plus. The key distinction is how much complexity you have around pricing, ERP integration, customer-specific catalogs, and ordering.

My first choice: BigCommerce B2B

BigCommerce B2B

I'd put BigCommerce at the top of your evaluation list if you're a traditional distributor.

It has native B2B functionality around company accounts, customer-specific pricing, purchase orders/net terms, buyer permissions, shopping lists, reordering and sales-rep ordering. It also emphasizes SKU-level pricing and integrations with external systems—important when your ERP is the real source of product/pricing data. www.bigcommerce.com

The quick-order experience is particularly important for your use case: you want something closer to:

SKU | Description | Customer Price | Available | Qty
12345 | Widget A | $12.40 | 847 | 24
12346 | Widget B | $8.75 | 1,204 | 50
12347 | Widget C | $31.20 | 92 | 10

rather than forcing a buyer to navigate hundreds of category pages.

Shopify Plus is the strongest alternative

Shopify B2B

Shopify has actually improved considerably for B2B. Its current B2B offering includes quick bulk ordering, where buyers can see products/variants and order from product pages or a separate order form. Plus also gives you unlimited catalogs and customer/location-specific pricing. www.shopify.com

The catch for a distributor is that the best SKU-pad/CSV-ordering experience may involve an app rather than being entirely native. For example, apps can provide searchable product tables, variant grids and CSV bulk ordering. apps.shopify.com

So I'd choose Shopify Plus if customer experience, speed of implementation, and a modern storefront are more important than having the deepest distributor-specific functionality out of the box.

Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce

This is the one I'd investigate if you're talking about hundreds of thousands/millions of SKUs, complicated customer-specific price books, multiple brands/regions, sophisticated ERP logic, or highly customized ordering workflows.

It's extremely capable, but you're buying a much more substantial technology project. If your goal is simply "let our customers search 50,000 SKUs and type quantities into an order form," it can be overkill.

What I'd do in your situation

I'd evaluate them in this order:

1. BigCommerce B2B → best starting point for a distributor
2. Shopify Plus → best if you prioritize usability/implementation and have relatively straightforward B2B rules
3. Adobe Commerce → best if your catalog/pricing/ERP complexity is genuinely enterprise-level

One thing I'd not compromise on: make the quick-order interface a first-class part of the project, not an afterthought. For distributors, I'd want SKU search + multi-line entry + CSV upload + customer-specific pricing + real-time inventory + saved order lists + one-click reorder.

If you tell me roughly (a) number of SKUs, (b) number of B2B customers, (c) what ERP you use—e.g. NetSuite, Epicor, SAP, Dynamics—and (d) whether every customer has different pricing, I can narrow this down pretty sharply.

For a distributor with a large SKU catalog and B2B buyers who already know what they want, I’d narrow the field to BigCommerce, Shopify Plus, and Adobe Commerce.

My ranking

\*Shopify's quick-order experience is particularly strong with apps; there are currently apps supporting SKU paste, CSV upload, searchable product tables, saved lists, and one-click reordering. apps.shopify.comapps.shopify.com

🥇 I'd start with BigCommerce

For a distributor, BigCommerce B2B is probably the first platform I'd evaluate.

The important distinction is that you're not really looking for a conventional ecommerce storefront. You need something closer to a digital order-entry system:

• Thousands/tens of thousands of SKUs
• Customer-specific price lists
• Customer-specific catalogs
• Quantity breaks
• Multiple users under one customer account
• PO/payment terms
• Reordering
• SKU search / SKU-pad ordering
• CSV bulk ordering
• Sales-rep-assisted ordering
• ERP inventory and pricing synchronization

BigCommerce has a particularly strong native B2B feature set around customer groups, pricing, catalogs, quoting and bulk ordering. Current 2026 comparisons also put it toward the top for complex B2B use cases. www.shopify.comwww.iwdagency.com

🥈 Shopify Plus if ease of use matters most

I'd choose Shopify Plus if you want your ecommerce team to be able to operate the system easily and you also care about having a polished DTC-style storefront.

Shopify now has native B2B capabilities including companies, catalogs, customer-specific pricing and purchasing controls. www.shopify.comapps.shopify.com

The interesting part for your use case is that the quick-order experience can be excellent. For example, current Shopify apps let buyers paste SKUs and quantities, upload CSVs, search/filter product tables, save order lists and reorder previous purchases. apps.shopify.com

So you could make the main B2B experience something like:

Quick Order
SKU | Qty
10482 | 12
88371 | 24
19201 | 6

[Upload CSV] [Add to Cart]

rather than forcing a buyer to navigate a 50,000-product catalog.

🥉 Adobe Commerce if the catalog is really complex

I'd consider Adobe Commerce when you're talking about very large catalogs plus complicated business rules—multiple brands, sophisticated customer hierarchies, highly customized pricing, complex ERP logic, RFQs, requisition lists, approval workflows, etc.

It's extremely capable, but there's a corresponding increase in implementation and technical overhead. Current comparisons characterize it as the option for large enterprises that need deep customization. www.shopify.com

The big question is your SKU count

There's a meaningful difference between:

• 5,000 SKUs
• 50,000 SKUs
• 500,000+ SKUs

At the upper end, I'd pay much more attention to PIM architecture, search infrastructure, ERP integration and catalog modeling than to the storefront itself. One current B2B comparison specifically flags million-SKU catalogs, fitment data and parts finders as scenarios where platform architecture becomes critical. www.shopify.comwww.iwdagency.com

If you tell me roughly how many SKUs you have, what ERP you're on (e.g. NetSuite, SAP, Dynamics, Epicor), and whether customers have negotiated pricing, I can give you a much more definitive BigCommerce vs. Shopify Plus vs. Adobe recommendation.

For a large SKU distributor selling B2B, I’d put BigCommerce B2B Edition at the top of your shortlist, with Shopify Plus B2B and Adobe Commerce as the other serious contenders.

1. BigCommerce B2B Edition — my first choice

BigCommerce B2B

This is particularly well matched to distributors. BigCommerce specifically supports extensive catalogs with thousands of products, SKUs and variants, and its B2B tooling includes company accounts, customer-specific pricing, bulk ordering, purchase orders, net terms, requisition lists, approval workflows and buyer portals. www.bigcommerce.com

The important part for you is the ordering workflow. A buyer shouldn't have to navigate 50 pages of products to place a replenishment order. BigCommerce's B2B functionality is designed around business purchasing, including shopping lists and placing orders on behalf of buyers. www.bigcommerce.com

I'd especially consider it if you have:

• 10,000s–100,000s+ SKUs
• Customer-specific price lists
• Different catalogs by customer/account
• Sales reps who place orders for customers
• PO/net-terms customers
• Repeat/replenishment orders
• ERP/PIM integration
• Multiple brands or storefronts

2. Shopify Plus B2B — excellent if you prioritize simplicity

Shopify Plus B2B

Shopify has gotten substantially better for B2B. Its native B2B functionality now includes quick bulk ordering, where buyers can see products/variants in an order-form format and enter quantities directly. www.shopify.com

The advantage is the overall Shopify ecosystem and easier administration. The tradeoff is that very complex distributor requirements—especially unusual pricing, quoting, account hierarchies and ERP-driven logic—can push you toward apps or custom development. elogic.co

There are also dedicated quick-order apps that add spreadsheet-style SKU ordering and CSV uploads, so Shopify can provide a very good distributor ordering experience. apps.shopify.com

3. Adobe Commerce — if your catalog/ERP complexity is extreme

Adobe Commerce is the one I'd investigate if you're talking about hundreds of thousands or millions of SKUs, highly customized pricing, complicated customer hierarchies, sophisticated quoting/approval processes, or a very ERP-centric operation.

It has particularly deep native B2B capabilities, including requisition lists, negotiable quotes, approval workflows and complex procurement logic. elogic.co

The downside is implementation and ongoing ownership. It's considerably more of an enterprise IT project than BigCommerce or Shopify Plus.

What I'd choose for a distributor

If your primary requirement is:

"We have a huge catalog and our customers already know their SKUs. Give them a fast way to enter 20–200 SKUs and quantities, use their negotiated prices, and submit the order."

I'd choose BigCommerce B2B Edition.

If your requirement is instead:

"We want the easiest-to-manage modern ecommerce site, with B2B plus a DTC storefront."

I'd lean Shopify Plus.

If it's:

"Our pricing, catalog, customer hierarchy and ERP processes are extremely complicated and we're willing to invest heavily."

I'd look at Adobe Commerce.

One thing I'd prioritize in your evaluation: don't just demo the storefront. Ask each vendor to demonstrate a buyer taking a spreadsheet containing, say, 100 SKU/quantity pairs, uploading/pasting it, getting validation against the catalog, seeing their customer-specific prices and stock, and checking out in under a minute. That's much more representative of distributor ecommerce than the usual "browse product → add to cart" demo.

For a distributor with a large SKU catalog and B2B buyers who reorder frequently, I’d shortlist BigCommerce B2B Edition, Shopify Plus B2B, and Adobe Commerce. The “quick order form” requirement pushes BigCommerce especially high on my list.

1. My first choice: BigCommerce B2B Edition

For your use case, BigCommerce would probably be my starting point.

Its B2B platform specifically supports quick-order workflows: the B2B Storefront API has endpoints for finding products by SKU and a dedicated quick-order-pad workflow. It also supports company accounts, catalogs, pricing, and other wholesale functionality. docs.bigcommerce.comwww.shopify.comapps.shopify.com

That matters because your buyers probably don't want to browse 20,000 SKUs. They want something like:

SKU | Qty
ABC-123 | 12
ABC-456 | 24
XYZ-789 | 6
Add all to cart

For a distributor, I'd prioritize that workflow over flashy consumer-oriented ecommerce features.

2. Shopify Plus B2B

I'd choose Shopify Plus if you also care heavily about having a polished storefront and potentially selling DTC alongside wholesale.

Shopify Plus has native B2B company accounts, customer-specific catalogs, volume pricing, payment terms, etc. docs.bigcommerce.comwww.shopify.comapps.shopify.com

The catch is the quick-order experience. Shopify can absolutely do it, but the more sophisticated SKU-grid/CSV/paste workflow may involve an app. There are current Shopify apps specifically providing SKU search, bulk SKU paste, CSV ordering and saved order templates. apps.shopify.com

So I'd view Shopify as:

Excellent B2B platform + excellent storefront + quick-order layer

rather than choosing it because its native quick-order experience is the strongest.

3. Adobe Commerce

If you're talking about 50k–500k+ SKUs, extremely complicated customer-specific pricing, multiple warehouses/brands, sophisticated ERP integration, or highly customized purchasing workflows, I'd put Adobe Commerce on the shortlist.

It has very deep B2B functionality, including requisition lists, shared catalogs, negotiated pricing/quotes, permissions and complex account structures. elogic.co

But there's a substantial tradeoff: implementation and ongoing technical ownership are much heavier than BigCommerce or Shopify Plus. www.imaginaire.co.uk

What I'd recommend for a distributor

If I were evaluating this for your business, my ranking would be:

🥇 BigCommerce B2B Edition — best balance of large catalog + B2B + quick ordering + integrations.

🥈 Shopify Plus — best if customer experience, speed of implementation, and possibly combining B2B/DTC are major priorities.

🥉 Adobe Commerce — best if your catalog/pricing/ERP requirements are unusually complicated and you're willing to fund a more sophisticated technology stack.

One important distinction: “lots of SKUs” isn't necessarily the hard part. The things I'd investigate are:

• Number of SKUs and variants
• Number of customer-specific price lists
• Whether customers see different catalogs
• ERP (e.g. SAP, NetSuite, Epicor, Dynamics) integration
• Real-time inventory by warehouse
• Customer-specific MOQ/case-pack rules
• CSV/SKU bulk ordering
• Saved/repeat orders
• Sales-rep ordering on behalf of customers
• PO / Net-30/60/90 payment terms
• Quotes and negotiated pricing
• Multiple branches/locations under one customer
• Whether you need B2B + DTC on the same platform

If you tell me roughly how many SKUs you have (e.g. 10k, 100k, 1M), what ERP you're running, and whether customers have individualized pricing, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 platforms and explain the architecture I'd use.

For a distributor with a large SKU catalog and B2B buyers who already know what they want, I’d shortlist Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce B2B Edition, and Shopify Plus—but I’d put Adobe Commerce first if the quick-order workflow is central.

1. Adobe Commerce — my pick for your use case

Adobe has unusually strong native support for the way distributors actually order. Its Quick Order lets buyers enter SKUs individually, paste multiple SKUs, or upload a CSV with SKUs and quantities. experienceleague.adobe.comexperienceleague.adobe.com

It also supports:

• Customer/company-specific catalogs and pricing
• Multiple buyers and purchasing permissions within an account
• Negotiable quotes
• Requisition lists for repeat orders
• Customer-specific payment/shipping options
• Large/complex catalogs
• Configurable-product grid ordering

experienceleague.adobe.com

The newer Adobe Storefront tooling is particularly interesting: its Quick Order component supports SKU search, multiple-SKU entry, CSV upload, and bulk add-to-cart, while Grid Ordering lets buyers enter quantities for multiple variants in one screen. experienceleague.adobe.com

Downside: Adobe is the most powerful option here, but also the one I'd expect to require the most implementation/technical resources.

Adobe Commerce B2B documentation

2. BigCommerce B2B — probably the best middle ground

I'd look seriously at BigCommerce B2B Edition if you want substantial B2B functionality without taking on as much complexity as Adobe.

It's particularly attractive if your requirements are things like:

ERP → product/catalog/pricing → B2B storefront → quick reorder → checkout

rather than highly customized procurement workflows.

BigCommerce also has multi-storefront and headless capabilities, and current industry comparisons generally position it as a strong mid-market B2B option. www.bigcommerce.com

BigCommerce B2B

3. Shopify Plus — excellent if simplicity matters more

I'd choose Shopify Plus if you have a significant DTC business alongside B2B, want the easiest administration, and your B2B requirements aren't exceptionally complex.

The tradeoff is that distributors often end up needing apps/custom development for things such as sophisticated quoting, approval chains, sales-rep workflows, and complex account hierarchies. www.bigcommerce.com

Shopify Plus

What I'd do in your shoes

If you have 50,000+ SKUs, hundreds/thousands of business customers, customer-specific pricing, ERP integration, and buyers who commonly place orders from SKU lists, I'd evaluate them in this order:

1. Adobe Commerce → best functional fit
2. BigCommerce B2B → best balance of capability and complexity
3. Shopify Plus → best if operational simplicity/DTC integration outweighs sophisticated B2B requirements

One important point: don't evaluate these primarily by how many SKUs they "support." The more consequential questions for a distributor are whether the platform can efficiently handle SKU search/indexing, customer-specific price lists, inventory/availability, ERP synchronization, variant ordering, bulk order entry, repeat orders, and account permissions.

If you tell me roughly (a) number of SKUs, (b) number of B2B customers, (c) ERP you're using, and (d) whether you need customer-specific pricing/quotes, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 architectures for a distributor like yours.

For a distributor with lots of SKUs, I’d narrow the field to Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce B2B, and Shopify Plus. The right choice depends heavily on how complex your pricing, customer accounts, ERP integration, and ordering process are.

My shortlist

1. Adobe Commerce — strongest for a complex distributor

This would be my first look if you have tens of thousands+ of SKUs, customer-specific pricing, multiple catalogs, complicated product relationships, sales-rep workflows, or a sophisticated ERP integration.

Its B2B functionality has a native Quick Order feature where buyers can:

• enter SKUs individually
• paste multiple SKUs
• upload a CSV containing SKUs and quantities
• search by SKU/product name

It also supports shared catalogs with custom pricing and B2B quotes. experienceleague.adobe.com

Adobe Commerce B2B documentation

2. BigCommerce B2B — probably the best middle ground

I'd seriously evaluate BigCommerce if you want something more SaaS-like and easier to operate than Adobe Commerce, while still building a serious B2B catalog operation.

It is particularly attractive if your requirements are something like large catalog + multiple price lists + ERP integration + customer-specific purchasing + multiple storefronts, without wanting to maintain a heavily customized Magento/Adobe installation.

3. Shopify Plus — best if usability is the priority

Shopify has substantially improved its native B2B capabilities. B2B now includes company accounts, catalogs, customer-specific pricing, quantity rules, payment terms and bulk ordering. Shopify Plus allows unlimited B2B catalogs and catalogs assigned directly to individual companies/locations. www.shopify.com

Its new quick bulk ordering experience lets buyers order from a list of products/variants rather than navigating individual product pages. www.shopify.com

The caveat for a distributor is that Shopify's native quick-order experience may not be enough if your buyers essentially want "give me a spreadsheet-like order-entry screen for 200 SKUs." There are apps that add searchable product tables, variant grids and CSV ordering. apps.shopify.com

What I'd choose

If you tell me:

• approximate SKU count (10k / 50k / 250k+)
• number of B2B customers
• whether each customer has its own price list
• ERP (NetSuite, SAP, Epicor, Dynamics, etc.)
• whether buyers typically order by SKU/part number
• whether you need CSV/Excel upload
• whether you also have a DTC storefront

…I can give you a much more definitive Adobe vs BigCommerce vs Shopify Plus recommendation, including which one I'd actually deploy for a distributor like yours.

For a distributor with lots of SKUs and buyers who already know what they want, I’d put BigCommerce B2B Edition at the top of the shortlist.

1. BigCommerce B2B Edition — my first choice

BigCommerce is particularly well aligned with distribution. Its B2B Edition has a Quick Order Pad where buyers can enter SKUs or upload orders in bulk, plus shared shopping lists, reordering, company accounts, quoting, invoices, and approval workflows. www.bigcommerce.com

It also explicitly targets large catalogs and says its infrastructure can handle catalogs of 2M+ SKUs, although your actual implementation should be load-tested against your catalog/search/PIM architecture. www.bigcommerce.com

For a distributor, the combination I'd care about is:

• SKU-level/customer-specific pricing
• Customer-specific product catalogs
• Quick order by SKU
• Bulk/CSV ordering
• Easy reorder from previous purchases
• Multiple buyers under one customer account
• Sales-rep ordering
• PO/net terms/invoicing
• ERP/PIM integration
• Multi-storefront if you have different brands, regions, or customer segments

BigCommerce supports essentially this stack natively through B2B Edition. www.bigcommerce.com

BigCommerce B2B Edition

2. Adobe Commerce — strongest if your business is unusually complex

Adobe Commerce is the one I'd investigate if you have sophisticated pricing, customer hierarchies, multiple websites, complex product configuration, or a large development/IT team.

Its B2B functionality has an actual Quick Order workflow: buyers can enter products by SKU/name, enter multiple SKUs, or upload them through the quick-order form. It also has requisition lists for repeat purchases. experienceleague.adobe.com

The advantage is depth and flexibility. The downside is that it generally demands more implementation and ongoing technical resources than a SaaS platform.

Adobe Commerce B2B documentation

3. Shopify Plus — attractive if DTC is equally important

Shopify Plus B2B has customer-specific catalogs/pricing, company accounts, payment terms, PO numbers, sales-rep permissions, and quick bulk ordering through a separate order form or product pages. www.shopify.com

The catch for a distributor is that you may end up adding an app for the exact ordering experience you want. For example, Shopify's ecosystem has apps that provide searchable product tables, variant grids and CSV-based SKU ordering. apps.shopify.com

So I'd choose Shopify Plus if B2B + consumer/DTC is a major part of the strategy. If you're primarily a distributor, I'd lean BigCommerce.

My ranking for your use case

BigCommerce B2B Edition → Adobe Commerce → Shopify Plus

The important distinction is that I'd evaluate these platforms around your buyer workflow, not just catalog size. For example, if a buyer receives a spreadsheet like:

SKU | Qty
ABC-123 | 48
XYZ-882 | 12
LMN-441 | 100

…and expects to paste/upload it, get their contracted prices, see availability, and submit a PO in under a minute, BigCommerce and Adobe Commerce are especially compelling. BigCommerce's B2B APIs also specifically expose catalog/quick-order functionality for this kind of workflow. docs.bigcommerce.com

If you tell me roughly how many SKUs you have (e.g. 50k vs. 500k vs. 2M), how many B2B customers, and what ERP/PIM you're using, I can narrow this down to the best architecture rather than just the best storefront.

For a distributor with a large SKU catalog, I’d put BigCommerce B2B Edition and Shopify Plus at the top of the shortlist, with Adobe Commerce if your catalog/pricing complexity is extreme.

1. BigCommerce B2B Edition — probably the best match

BigCommerce specifically targets wholesalers, manufacturers and distributors. Its B2B tooling includes SKU lists, CSV bulk ordering, one-click reordering, buyer roles/permissions, customer-specific pricing, requisitions and sales-rep tools. www.bigcommerce.com

That's important for your use case because a distributor's buyer often doesn't want to browse 5,000–100,000 products. They want to:

paste SKU 12345 → quantity 20 → SKU 67890 → quantity 5 → submit order

BigCommerce's quick-order functionality is much closer to that workflow out of the box than a typical consumer ecommerce setup.

BigCommerce B2B platform

2. Shopify Plus — excellent if speed and UX matter

Shopify has substantially improved its native B2B capabilities. Shopify Plus supports company accounts, customer-specific catalogs/pricing, quantity rules, volume pricing, payment terms and quick bulk ordering. Shopify specifically describes a B2B order form where buyers can order multiple products/variants without going through individual product pages. www.shopify.com

The catch for a distributor is that you may end up adding apps for more sophisticated purchasing workflows. For example, Shopify's App Store has B2B apps supporting searchable SKU tables, CSV uploads and variant grids. apps.shopify.com

Shopify Plus B2B

3. Adobe Commerce — when "lots of SKUs" means really lots

I'd consider Adobe Commerce when you have things like:

• hundreds of thousands/millions of SKUs
• complicated product attributes/fitment
• many customer-specific price books
• account hierarchies and purchasing approvals
• sophisticated quoting/RFQ
• requisition lists
• highly customized ERP/PIM integration
• multiple brands/catalogs/regions

It has the deepest native B2B feature set, but it's substantially more involved to implement and operate. elogic.co

My recommendation

If I were evaluating this for a distributor, I'd start with:

🥇 BigCommerce B2B Edition — best balance of large catalog + distributor workflows + quick ordering.

🥈 Shopify Plus — choose this if you value fast implementation, excellent storefront UX, and potentially combining B2B and DTC.

🥉 Adobe Commerce — choose this if your business has unusually complex catalog, pricing, account, or ERP requirements.

One thing I'd test before choosing is your actual order-entry experience, not just the storefront. Give each vendor a spreadsheet containing, say, 1,000 SKUs, then ask them to demonstrate: "A buyer knows these 80 SKUs and quantities—show me how they place this order." That will expose the practical differences very quickly.

If you tell me roughly how many SKUs you have (10k / 100k / 1M+), what ERP you're on (NetSuite, SAP, Epicor, etc.), and whether customers have contract-specific pricing, I can narrow this to 1–2 platforms.

For a distributor with a large SKU catalog, I’d shortlist Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce B2B Edition, and Shopify Plus. The right choice depends heavily on how complex your pricing, ERP integration, and buyer workflows are.

1. Adobe Commerce — my pick for complex distribution

Adobe Commerce

This is particularly strong if your catalog is huge and you have customer-specific pricing, multiple price lists, complex company accounts, ERP-driven data, quotes, purchase approvals, and sales-rep workflows.

Its B2B functionality includes Quick Order, where buyers can enter SKUs individually, paste multiple SKUs, or upload a file; it also has reusable requisition lists for repeat purchases. experienceleague.adobe.com

A particularly useful detail for distributors: Adobe's Shared Catalog can assign customized products/pricing to individual companies, and its documentation specifically describes a performance option for merchants managing many shared catalogs. experienceleague.adobe.com

I'd choose it if: you have tens/hundreds of thousands+ of SKUs, complicated customer pricing, and an ERP/OMS that needs to be deeply integrated.

2. BigCommerce B2B Edition — probably the best SaaS option

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is very compelling for distributors because its B2B Edition has a Quick Order Pad for entering SKUs or uploading orders in bulk, along with shopping lists, quotes, and B2B buyer portals. www.bigcommerce.com

The advantage versus Adobe is that you're getting a more managed SaaS platform rather than taking on as much infrastructure/customization responsibility.

I'd choose it if: you want serious B2B functionality and catalog scale but don't want the operational complexity of Adobe Commerce.

3. Shopify Plus — best if ease of use matters

Shopify Plus

Shopify has become substantially better for B2B. Plus supports company accounts, customer-specific catalogs/pricing, quantity rules, volume pricing, payment terms, and quick bulk ordering through an order-form experience. www.shopify.comwww.shopify.com

The catch for a distributor is that some very specialized workflows can require apps or custom development. Shopify's own documentation, for example, points to third-party/custom solutions for capabilities such as CSV ordering in the buyer portal. www.shopify.com

I'd choose it if: you're also doing meaningful DTC/ecommerce, want the easiest admin experience, and your B2B requirements aren't extraordinarily complex.

My recommendation

For your description, I'd rank them:

1. Adobe Commerce — if the catalog and B2B complexity are genuinely substantial.
2. BigCommerce B2B — if you want SaaS and faster implementation while retaining strong distributor functionality.
3. Shopify Plus — if simplicity, DTC, and speed matter more than deeply specialized B2B workflows.

The quick-order requirement is important. I wouldn't evaluate these platforms based primarily on their normal storefront search. For a distributor, I'd demo the exact workflow:

Buyer enters 30 SKUs + quantities → system validates SKUs → applies that customer's contract pricing → shows availability → buyer submits PO → order goes to ERP.

I'd also test CSV upload, customer-specific catalogs, case-pack/MOQ rules, substitute SKUs, backorders, sales-rep ordering, and ERP price/inventory synchronization. Those are much more likely to determine whether the platform actually works for your business than the storefront itself.

If you tell me roughly how many SKUs you have (e.g. 50k vs. 500k), what ERP you're on (NetSuite, SAP, Epicor, etc.), and whether you have customer-specific contract pricing, I can narrow this to a recommended architecture and platform.

For a distributor with a large SKU catalog and B2B buyers who already know what they want, I’d shortlist Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce B2B, and Shopify Plus—but they fit different operating models.

My pick: Adobe Commerce if you're truly catalog-heavy

Adobe Commerce has unusually strong native B2B functionality: Quick Order lets buyers enter multiple SKUs, paste a list of SKUs, or upload a file; requisition lists let customers repeatedly order common assortments; and Shared Catalogs support customer/company-specific products and pricing. experienceleague.adobe.com

That's particularly compelling for distributors because the buyer experience can be:

SKU → quantity → add to cart → checkout

rather than forcing a procurement customer to navigate thousands of product pages.

It also supports company accounts, negotiated quotes, purchase-order workflows and approval rules. experienceleague.adobe.com

The tradeoff is implementation and ownership complexity. If you don't have a strong technical team/partner, Adobe can be substantially more expensive and involved than a SaaS platform.

BigCommerce is probably the one I'd evaluate next

For a distributor that wants SaaS rather than running a heavily customized Commerce stack, BigCommerce is very attractive. Its B2B offering is designed around things like customer-specific pricing, company accounts, bulk ordering and complex B2B workflows. Current comparisons also put it particularly strong for distributors/manufacturers with complex pricing and ordering requirements. www.softwarexp.com

I'd seriously consider it if you have, say, tens or hundreds of thousands of SKUs, substantial ERP integration, multiple customer price lists, and don't want the operational burden of Adobe.

Shopify Plus: excellent, but I'd be more cautious for your use case

Shopify has substantially expanded its native B2B functionality in 2026, including company profiles, custom catalogs, volume pricing and payment terms. www.shopify.com

The issue is that a distributor's SKU-pad / bulk-order workflow often becomes more important than the normal Shopify storefront experience. Shopify can do this, but sophisticated quick-order tables, CSV ordering and similar workflows may require apps; for example, there are current Shopify apps specifically adding searchable product tables and CSV bulk ordering. apps.shopify.com

So I'd choose Shopify Plus when DTC + B2B coexistence and ease of operation are major priorities, rather than because it's the strongest platform for a huge industrial catalog.

The architecture I'd aim for

For a serious distributor, I'd prioritize these requirements above generic "ecommerce scalability":

1. SKU quick-order pad — paste/type 20–100 SKUs and quantities.
2. CSV/Excel order upload.
3. Reorder from previous orders.
4. Saved/requisition lists.
5. Customer-specific catalogs and price lists.
6. Customer-specific product availability.
7. ERP-driven inventory and pricing.
8. Multiple buyers/locations under one customer account.
9. PO/credit terms and approval workflows.
10. Fast search across the entire catalog.
11. API/headless capabilities if your ERP/PIM is sophisticated.
12. A storefront that doesn't try to render your entire catalog at once.

Bottom line: if you tell me roughly how many SKUs you have (50k / 500k / 1M+), what ERP you're on (NetSuite, SAP, Dynamics, Epicor, etc.), and whether you also sell DTC, I can narrow this to a 2–3 platform recommendation and explain which one I'd actually choose for your distributor.

For a distributor with a very large SKU catalog and B2B buyers who already know the SKU/part number they want, I’d shortlist BigCommerce B2B Edition, Adobe Commerce, and Shopify Plus. The quick-order requirement changes the ranking quite a bit.

My ranking

\*Shopify's native B2B functionality is strong, but its native B2B feature set does not include an order form; apps can add SKU-paste, CSV upload and quick-order functionality. apps.shopify.comapps.shopify.com

1. BigCommerce B2B Edition — probably where I'd start

For a distributor, BigCommerce is my first platform to evaluate.

The important thing isn't simply "how many SKUs can it hold." It's whether buyers can efficiently navigate a huge catalog while getting the right customer-specific pricing, quantity rules, account permissions, payment terms, and ordering workflow.

BigCommerce is particularly strong on those B2B workflows, including quick-order/SKU-pad functionality, customer-specific pricing, quotes, and buyer-account capabilities. www.iwdagency.com

I'd favor it if your buyers commonly say:

"I need 12 of SKU 48392, 4 of SKU 77103, and 20 of SKU 99182."

rather than browsing through categories.

2. Adobe Commerce — best when the catalog is really complicated

If you're talking hundreds of thousands to millions of SKUs, complicated product attributes/fitment, multiple warehouses, multiple websites/brands, sophisticated pricing rules, or deep ERP integration, I'd put Adobe Commerce very high on the list.

It has particularly deep B2B capabilities around requisition lists, RFQs/quotes, approval workflows and complex procurement logic. www.iwdagency.comelogic.co

The tradeoff is operational complexity: you're taking on a considerably heavier implementation and engineering environment than BigCommerce or Shopify Plus.

3. Shopify Plus — best if you want the easiest platform to operate

Shopify Plus has become substantially more compelling for B2B. It now supports company accounts, buyer permissions, customer-specific catalogs, quantity rules, volume pricing, payment terms and self-service reordering. apps.shopify.com

For quick ordering, however, I'd plan on an app. For example, current Shopify apps can provide searchable product tables, SKU entry, variant grids and CSV bulk ordering. apps.shopify.com

So the architecture becomes:

Shopify Plus + B2B catalogs/pricing + dedicated quick-order app + ERP integration

That's a very attractive setup if you also have a consumer/DTC business and want one modern platform.

The feature I'd prioritize

Don't just ask vendors, "Can you handle 500k SKUs?"

I'd demo this exact workflow:

1. Buyer logs in.
2. They see their negotiated prices.
3. They paste 50–500 SKUs + quantities into a single order form.
4. Unknown SKUs are flagged immediately.
5. Substitutions/pack sizes are shown.
6. Inventory availability is displayed.
7. Customer-specific MOQ/case-pack rules are enforced.
8. Buyer submits against their PO/net terms.
9. The order flows automatically to the ERP.
10. Buyer can hit "Reorder" next month.

That will tell you far more than a generic catalog-size benchmark.

My default recommendation: BigCommerce B2B Edition if you're primarily a distributor/wholesaler; Adobe Commerce if your catalog and pricing logic are exceptionally complex; Shopify Plus if simplicity, speed, and potentially combining B2B + DTC are more important.

If you tell me roughly SKU count (e.g. 50k vs 500k vs 2M), ERP (NetSuite/SAP/Dynamics/etc.), number of B2B customers, and whether you also sell DTC, I can narrow this to a specific architecture and give you a BigCommerce vs Shopify Plus vs Adobe comparison for your operation.