Merchant B2B Contracts and Contract Requests features overview

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In a B2B business model, the partnership is usually based on contracts, or relations, between buyers and merchants. Both features Merchant B2B Contracts and Merchant B2B Contract Requests allow for the creation and management of such relation and relation requests. Based on merchant relations, you can define buyer-specific prices, products, and merchant order thresholds. In the context of merchant relations in a Shop, there are two key actors: the merchant and the buyer:

  • A merchant is a seller usually represented by a company that owns the platform.
  • The buyers are represented by business units of companies that purchase products or services from the merchant. Individual employees of the business units are called company users.

There are two ways to establish a merchant relation:

  • Merchant manually creates a merchant relation in the Back Office.
  • Company user submits a relation request on the Storefront. The merchant relation is created once the admin approves this request.

Creation of a merchant relation in the Back Office

Merchants can create a merchant relation in the Back Office. For details on how to do that, see Create merchant relations. After a relation has been created in the Back Office, it appears on the Storefront in My Company -> Merchant Relations.

Initiation of a merchant relation by a company user

Company user can request a merchant relation from the merchant. Once the merchant approves the request, the merchant relation is automatically created.

Merchant relation request creation by a company user

Company user can initiate the merchant relation by placing a request on the Storefront from the Merchant Relation Requests page in the Company Account by clicking Create request.

In the merchant relation request form, the company user need to specify the business unit owner and business unit they want to create the merchant relation for. This business unit has a formal contract for this relation. Optionally, the company user can leave a message for the merchant with more details regarding the relation request. After the company user submits the relation request, it appears with the Pending status on the Company Account page.

Merchant relation request

The company user can view details of all the merchant relation requests and cancel pending requests on the Storefront on the My Company -> Merchant Relation Requests page. However, they can’t edit the submitted requests.

Merchant relation request approval by a merchant

When a company user creates a request, the merchant receives a notification via email and can start processing this request.

The merchant can leave notes for the company that requested the relation. Merchant can also leave internal comments that only their users can view and respond to.

Once the merchant approves or rejects a relation request, its status changes to Approved or Rejected. The company user receives the email about the status change of the request.

For details on how a merchant can process the merchant relation requests in the Merchant Portal, see Manage merchant relation requests.

Automatic creation of a merchant relation

Based on the data in a request, one or multiple merchant relations are automatically created for approved requests and displayed in the Back Office and on the Storefront.

Merchant relations in business operations

Based on merchant relations, you can assign buyer-specific products, product prices, and merchant order thresholds in the Back Office.

Check out this video tutorial on how to set up merchants and merchant relations: