Get Your First Wholesale Order with Wholesale Gorilla Wholesale on Shopify
You’ve finished setting up your B2B store.
Now, it’s time to start getting orders.
Follow this simple, proven launch campaign to get your B2B customers ordering through your Shopify store.
Get Your First Wholesale Orders in Three Steps
Once your Wholesale Gorilla setup is complete, the next step is simple but critical:
Getting your wholesale customers to actually shop at your store.
Here’s a quick look at the steps ahead for launching your campaign.
Contacts
First, you'll set up your wholesale customer accounts in Shopify.
Design
Then you’ll design the email, customized to your products and brand.
Execute
Lastly, you’ll send the email and conduct follow-up from there.
By the end of this guide, you’ll have
- Wholesale customer accounts ready to shop
- A clean customer list in your email or messaging tool
- A proven wholesale launch email (with templates)
- A follow-up plan to drive first orders
Before you begin
Is your store set up?
This guide is made for store owners who have already completed the “Getting Started” guide and set up their Wholesale Gorilla account to their liking.
Are you using Legacy Customer accounts?
If you launched your Shopify store before July 2024, check which version of
Customer accounts
you are using.
If you are using Customer accounts, this guide is for you! If you are using Legacy accounts, consider switching to customer accounts for the latest Shopify customer experience.
If you’re unable to use Customer accounts, please get in touch. Our support team is happy to help adapt this campaign to your unique store’s setup .
Ready, Set, Launch: How to Build Your Campaign
To accept wholesale orders, first, you’ll need to set up your customer accounts.
The exact next steps will vary depending on how your wholesale customers are set up.
Select the path that best fits your situation below.
Option 1
(Recommended)
My customers will create their own accounts with the Wholesale Gorilla signup form.
Best for most merchants. Fastest to launch.
Option 2
(Manual)
I will set up my wholesale customer accounts for them.
Best for curated or smaller wholesale lists.
Option 3
(Hybrid)
My wholesale customers already have accounts in Shopify.
Best if you are migrating from another wholesale app.
Need a Different Setup? We’ve Got You Covered
The Wholesale Gorilla team is here to help. Reach out to our team via the support hub on your Wholesale Gorilla homepage, and one of our experts will walk you through the setup step by step.
Option 1:
My wholesale customers will create their own accounts via the Wholesale Gorilla signup form
A self-service option.
For this launch, you’ll be inviting your wholesale customers to sign up for an account using the Wholesale Gorilla signup form. This is the fastest and simplest way to encourage customers to shop.
Step 1: Review signup form settings
Make sure you've followed our Getting Started guide to create the sign-up form and link it to it in your shop navigation. Visit Knowledge Base for help.
For this step, it’s helpful to:
- Double-check your notification email in Wholesale Gorilla settings to confirm where new customer notifications will be sent.
-
Make the signup form easy to find by adding it to your store’s:
- Main navigation
- Footer
- Wholesale/Stockist page
Step 2: Build the invite email
Create your email invitation from scratch or use our template. If building yourself, be sure to include why you’re launching online ordering and the benefits of signing up, including:
- Easy reorders
- Quick order forms
- Order tracking
- Access to sales and discounts
Pro tips:
- Keep your call to action simple, such as “Sign up for our new wholesale ordering platform.”
-
End the email with clear call-to-action with a link to your signup form, i.e.
“Sign up for a wholesale account” and
wsg-demo.myshopify.com/pages/wholesale-registration-form
-
Offer a discount code to increase immediate sign-ups. Visit
Knowledge Base
Step 3: Send to prospective customers
Once your message is finalized, use your preferred email client (Gmail, Outlook, or a 3rd-party app) to send the invitation to prospective customers.
Step 4: Check your email for new signup alerts
Stay tuned for email alerts about new sign-ups, as action may be required.
How do I know whether action is required?
Did you set a value for Auto-tag customer when they sign up via the signup form? Visit
Knowledge Base
- Yes: No action is required; your wholesale customer is automatically added to a price list and can start shopping immediately
- No: Action is required! You’ll need to manually add the customer to a price list in Wholesale Gorilla. IMPORTANT: Once complete, email the customer to let them know they’re ready to shop!
The new signup notification emails from Wholesale Gorilla will indicate if action is required.
Pro Tip!
Offering a limited-time first wholesale order discount significantly increases activation.
Option 2:
I will set up my wholesale customer
accounts for them (manual option)
For this launch, you’ll provide an enhanced level of service by creating your customers’ accounts. While it’ll take more work for you to set up, it creates less friction for your customers, allowing them to skip the signup process and start shopping immediately with the login you provide.
Step 1: Create Shopify accounts for your customers
Watch the video or follow the steps below to create Shopify accounts for your customers, manually or in bulk.
- In the Shopify admin, go to Customers, and then click the “Add Customer” button.
-
Fill in the necessary information about your customer.
- Note: Make sure to check the box “Customer agreed to receive marketing emails” if you will be using Shopify messaging to send the emails.
- Note: Make sure to check the box “Customer agreed to receive marketing emails” if you will be using Shopify messaging to send the emails.
Pro tip!
If you know the customer tag of the price list you want to add the customer to, you can add the tag to their profile while creating their account. No worries if not; you can add them to a price list in the next step.
3. Save the customer, and repeat the above steps for all customer accounts you’d like to create.
FAQ:
What if some of my customers already have accounts on my store?
All you need to do is add them to a price list (step 4).
- Add the customer accounts you just created to a price list in Wholesale Gorilla. Visit Knowledge Base
- Your customers now have active wholesale accounts! Next, let’s invite them to start shopping.
Step 2: Set up your launch campaign
- First, decide which email client you’ll be using for the campaign. You can use Shopify messaging, a third-party service such as Mailchimp or Klaviyo, or Gmail or Outlook if your list is fairly small.
- The next steps apply to Shopify Messaging, but you can apply them to any email client.
-
Start by loading your customer list into the “To” field.
- Open Shopify messaging, and click ‘Create Campaign.’
- Select or create a new template.
- Click the “To” field and select the segment “WG Wholesale.” This will email all customers on all price lists in Wholesale Gorilla.
- Open Shopify messaging, and click ‘Create Campaign.’
- Select or create a new template.
- Click the “To” field and select the segment “WG Wholesale.” This will email all customers on all price lists in Wholesale Gorilla.
Don’t see all of your customers? Make sure you have selected
“Customer agreed to receive marketing emails” on the customer profiles.
For third-party services (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, etc.): Follow the platform’s instructions
for emailing a specific customer segment in Shopify.
To manually export a list of your wholesale customers to a CSV, follow this guide. Visit Knowledge Base , Video
Step 3: Build the invite email
Create your email invitation from scratch or use our template. If building yourself, be sure to include the benefits of signing up, including:
- Easy reorders
- Quick order forms
- Order tracking
- Access to sales and discounts
Pro Tip!
- Keep your call to action simple, such as “Log in and shop our new B2B ordering platform.”
-
End the email by clearly stating, “We’ve created accounts for you; just log in with this email address and start shopping,” with a link to log in, i.e.,
wsg-demo.myshopify.com/account/login
-
Drive orders with a limited-time discount code. Visit
Knowledge Base
- Include short “how ordering works” bullets.
Step 4: Send to prospective customers
Once your message is finalized, use your preferred email client (Gmail, Outlook, or a 3rd-party app) to send the invitation to prospective customers.
Step 5: Follow-up
Five to seven days after sending your initial invitation, it’s time to follow up. Reach out to your list of contacts who haven’t responded with a short reminder of the benefits, along with another call to action.
Option 3:
My wholesale customers already
have accounts in Shopify
If your wholesale customers already have Shopify accounts, follow the steps below to invite them to shop.
Step 1: Connect your customers
Start by adding your customers to a price list. Visit Knowledge Base
Step 2: Set up your launch campaign
- First, decide which email client you’ll be using for the campaign. You can use Shopify messaging, a third-party service such as Mailchimp or Klaviyo, or Gmail or Outlook if your list is fairly small.
- The next steps apply to Shopify Messaging, but you can apply them to any email client.
-
Start by loading your customer list into the “To” field.
- Open Shopify messaging, and click ‘Create Campaign.’
- Select or create a new template
- Click the “To” field, and select the segment “WG Wholesale.” This will email all customers on all price lists in Wholesale Gorilla.
- Open Shopify messaging, and click ‘Create Campaign.’
- Select or create a new template
- Click the “To” field, and select the segment “WG Wholesale.” This will email all customers on all price lists in Wholesale Gorilla.
Don’t see all of your customers? Make sure you have selected
“Customer agreed to receive marketing emails” on the customer profiles.
For third-party services (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, etc.): Follow the platform’s instructions
for emailing a specific customer segment in Shopify.
To manually export a list of your wholesale customers to a CSV, follow this guide. Visit Knowledge Base , Video
Step 3: Build and send the invite email
Create your email invitation from scratch or use our template. If building yourself, be sure to include the benefits of signing up, including:
- Easy reorders
- Quick order forms
- Order tracking
- Access to sales and discounts
Pro Tip!
- Keep your call to action simple, such as “Log in and shop our new B2B ordering platform.”
-
End the email by clearly stating, "Log in with this email address and start shopping" with a link to log in, i.e.,
wsg-demo.myshopify.com/account/login
- Your customers will not need a password; they can log in just with their email address.
-
Drive orders with a limited-time discount code or incentives. Visit
Knowledge Base
- Include a deadline for the first order to inspire fast action.
Don’t skip the follow-up
An important part of your wholesale launch campaign will be following up with prospective customers. Here are a few tips to ensure that following up goes smoothly:
- Send 1–2 reminders max
- Keep it short
- Focus on benefits, not features
- Include direct login/signup links
Tips for a Successful Launch
Getting Started smoothly with these pro tips and best practices from existing users.
-
Use Manual Orders as a bridge: If some customers prefer to email or call in orders or are less tech-savvy, you can help by building manual orders for them to start. Once they are comfortable paying invoices online, you can create an account for them. Visit knowledge base.
-
Other tips from marketing
- Strong subject line?
- Keep the message short and scannable
- Include one clear call to action
- Create a follow-up process
- Strong subject line?
- Keep the message short and scannable
- Include one clear call to action
- Create a follow-up process
