Getting started

Download and install, license, the default business terms field by field, the signup page and your first business group, step by step with pictures: everything to do before the first business customer applies.

What to have ready

• Your B2B license key from affstackdev.com (My Account → Licenses).
• WordPress 6.7, WooCommerce 10.0 and 64-bit PHP 8.1 or newer (what B2B needs).
• A rough idea of your terms: does every business get the same discount, or do you have kinds of customers (outfitters, schools, lodges) with their own terms? Kinds of customers become business groups.

Harbor & Pine, the sample store of these pages, sells outdoor gear and home goods to everyone and has three business groups: Outfitters and guide services (20% off), Clubs and schools (12%) and Corporate gifts (8%).

1. Download and install

1. On affstackdev.com open My Account → Downloads and download B2B. Keep the ZIP file as it is; do not unpack it.
2. In your WordPress admin open Plugins, choose Add Plugin (older WordPress versions call it Add New), then Upload Plugin.
3. Choose the ZIP file and select Install Now, then Activate Plugin.

B2B now has its place in the WordPress menu: WooCommerce → B2B. With the AffStackDev Suite installed you also find it in the AffStackDev menu. If WordPress refuses the file, or to install a newer version over an older one, see Install a plugin.

2. Activate the license

Open B2B (WooCommerce → B2B, or AffStackDev → B2B with the Suite; a site administrator does this). Until a license is active it opens on the license form; afterwards the form is under its License tab:

1. Enter the B2B license key from your affstackdev.com account.
2. Choose the Licensed environment: Production for your live store; Staging, Development or Local for a test copy. One license covers one live site and one test copy.
3. Choose Activate license and read the status shown.

Without an active license B2B keeps everything it has saved, and staff can still read accounts, quotes and reports, but no business change can be made. More in Activate your license.

3. Set the default business terms

Open Setup & defaults. The screen has five parts: Your B2B workspace (a link to Customize the workspace), Buyer portal and Business quick ordering (links and shortcodes, see Company buying), Business signup page (step 4) and Default business terms.

The default business terms apply to every approved business account whose group and account have no terms of their own. Each field, as a new installation starts:

Use a decimal point for amounts and no currency signs or thousands separators.

Worked example: a $150 minimum for business orders

Harbor & Pine wants every business order to reach $150 of merchandise.

1. Open Setup & defaults. Under Default business terms enter 150 in Minimum business order value.
2. Choose Review changes. The Review before publishing card lists every default with its value, in the screen's words: Minimum business order value "$150.00", Maximum business order value "No maximum", the payment and shipping choices, the order form choices.
3. Choose Publish these changes, or Back to editor to correct something. Publishing answers "Saved. The current settings are shown below."

An approved business customer whose cart holds less than $150 of merchandise then reads "The merchandise value is outside your business order limits. Adjust the cart or contact the store." and cannot place the order. Retail customers are not affected. For a minimum per group or per account, see Order limits.

4. Put up the signup page

Customers can always apply under My Account → Business account. Most stores also want a page of their own:

1. In Setup & defaults → Business signup page, choose Create business signup page. B2B publishes a page called Business account application with the signup form ([affstackdev_b2b_application]) on it. Your WordPress user needs permission to publish pages.
2. The card now shows Open your signup page and Edit page. Change the wording of the form under Application wording (step 3).
3. Link the page from your menu or footer.

The form on the page is the same as under My Account → Business account: a visitor creates a login and applies in one go, a signed-in customer applies with their login. What the form asks is set on Applications (Business accounts).

The other buyer pages can be placed the same way:

5. Create your first business group

A business group carries terms that many accounts share. Name groups however you work: Tier 1, Dealers, Outfitters.

Worked example: "Lodges and inns", 15% off the regular price

1. Open Business groups and choose Add new. The shortcuts Tier 1 to Tier 5, Dealers and Distributors only fill in the name.
2. Business group name: Lodges and inns.
3. Who this group is for: "Lodges, inns and resorts that buy blankets, mugs and candles for their rooms." This is an "Internal description for your team"; customers do not see it.
4. Discount choice: Set a discount percentage; Discount percentage: 15.
5. Calculate from: Regular product price.

6. Leave the rest as a new group starts: payment and shipping methods on Use inherited terms, no coupon codes, and the Quote rules on Use inherited setting or empty.

7. Choose Review changes. The review lists every field in words and works an example: "a base unit price of 100.00 becomes 85 before tax". Choose Publish these changes: "Saved. The current settings are shown below." The list of Business groups shows each group with its Current terms (15%) and when it was Updated.

The group gives nothing to anyone yet: an account gets its terms when you approve it into the group (the next page).

Every field of a business group

To change a group later, open it from the list, change it, review and publish. A group cannot be deleted; a group nobody belongs to gives nothing. Accounts can be moved to another group at any time on Accounts, or move by themselves when they reach a spending target (see below).

6. Try it once

1. In a private browser window, register as a test customer and apply on the signup page.
2. Approve the application on Accounts and put it in your group (Business accounts).
3. Open Price preview, choose the test account and a product, and look at the price and where it came from (Business prices).
4. Sign in as the test customer and put the product in the cart.

Move accounts to another group by themselves

A company can move to a better group once it has bought enough: B2B checks what each company has spent and moves it for you.

Worked example: Lodges and inns move to "Preferred lodges" after $10,000 in a year

1. Create a second group, Preferred lodges, with 20% off the regular price, as in the example above.
2. Open Business groups. Under the list of groups is Automatic moves between groups.
3. In its last line: Order 1, On ticked, Move accounts from Lodges and inns, To Preferred lodges, When the company has spent at least (USD) 10000, Counting The last days, Days 365.
4. Choose Review changes. The review reads "Lodges and inns → Preferred lodges when the company has spent at least $10,000.00 (in the last 365 days). On". Choose Publish these changes.
5. B2B now checks every approved account in the background. A lodge that has already spent $10,000 in the last 365 days moves to Preferred lodges in the check that publishing starts; the others move a few seconds after the business order that takes them past $10,000 is paid.

The move shows in the account's Recent account activity: "Moved from Lodges and inns to Preferred lodges by automatic move 1: spent at least $10,000.00 (in the last 365 days) · automatic". From then on the lodge's buyers see the Preferred lodges prices.

What counts as spent

Good to know

• Moves are checked from the top of the list, and a company can pass several groups in one check: with "No group → Tier 1 at 1,000" and "Tier 1 → Tier 2 at 10,000", a company that has spent 12,000 lands in Tier 2.
• Nothing moves a company back down by itself. To move one down, change its group on Accounts. Two moves that go round in a loop (Tier 1 → Tier 2 and Tier 2 → Tier 1) cannot be published.
• Keep this account in its group on an account's form keeps that account where you put it.
• Tell the company owner when their account moves (off at the start) sends the owner one email per move; you write the subject and text, with {business} and {group} filled in for you.
• Check all accounts now checks every approved account at once; B2B also checks them once a day. Only approved accounts move, and only while the B2B license is active.
• Untick On to keep a move without using it; tick Remove to delete it. Up to 50 moves.

Who sees what at checkout

How B2B, Dynamic Pricing, Free Gifts & BOGO and Store Credit fit together: Working together.

When it does not work

Questions

Do retail customers notice anything?

Not with Retail and business customers: they shop as before. B2B never changes the regular or sale price saved on a product; business prices are worked out for approved business customers in the cart.

Do I need business groups?

No. Without groups every approved account gets the default business terms. Groups are for different terms for different kinds of customers.

Can a business be in two groups?

No, an account belongs to one group or to none (business defaults). For a single customer's own terms, give the account its own discount on Accounts.

Can I undo a published change?

Publish the old value again. Price books keep versions you can restore (Business prices); other records do not.

Where do I hide sections I do not use?

Tools & connections → Your B2B workspace → Hide from workspace navigation. Hidden sections keep working.

Related pages