Entering the wholesale business is, as you could say, a whole new world.
You’ll come across a plethora of apps that promise solutions, and you have to do your best to figure out which is right for your platform.
Along this journey, it’s likely you’ll hear the names Bold Commerce and Wholesale Gorilla come into the conversation.
When it comes to these platforms, both can be successful at what their unique specialties are.
So, which will work best for your business?
Our goal here is to help you understand what Bold Commerce does and how it compares to Wholesale Gorilla to make the best decision.
Wholesale Gorilla and Bold Commerce: Two Products, Two Specialties
Like any comparison, it’s important to start off with the facts. First and foremost, Wholesale Gorilla and Bold Commerce are two completely separate platforms.
Even though both can technically support wholesale business, Wholesale Gorilla specializes in wholesale sales specifically, while Bold Commerce has a variety of solutions for everything from subscriptions to checkout support.
Let’s put it this way – Wholesale Gorilla is a simple and effective toolbox with everything you need inside for wholesale only. On the other hand, Bold Commerce is a Swiss army knife of tools, some of which work for wholesale.
So, to figure out which one makes most sense for your unique business, keep reading for the entire breakdown of each tool and how they can boost sales and support efficiency.
What Makes Wholesale Gorilla Different from Bold Commerce?
From our introductory explanation, it’s easy to see what makes Wholesale Gorilla different from Bold Commerce right off the bat.
One sticks to wholesale features specifically, while the other dabbles in a variety of tools for Shopify checkout support.
This can be a key differentiator to consider for your business.
Beyond that, it’s important for wholesalers to know the difference between Wholesale Gorilla and Bold Commerce in regards to inventory management, customer experience, discounts, and pricing.
Inventory Management Capabilities
The most important area where Wholesale Gorilla and Bold Commerce differ greatly is inventory management capabilities.
Because Bold Commerce is not wholesale-centric, its system isn’t adequately equipped to handle unique variants for SKUs.
For instance, when creating SKUs with multiple price tiers, the Bold Commerce solution creates unique variants, resulting in an excessive number of SKUs. This complicates inventory management for Shopify owners and requires additional time editing and sorting unique SKUs.
Wholesale Gorilla syncs inventory with Shopify without creating individual (and excessive) SKU variants. This one feature ultimately saves Shopify owners time and headaches from managing inventory for wholesale orders.
Here’s a look at how to build the Quick Order Form in Wholesale Gorilla.
Customer Experience
Another feature that sets Wholesale Gorilla apart from Bold Commerce is its Quick Order Form.
This feature puts the power of creating an order in the hands of the customer, automatically simplifying the experience for them and reducing errors for Shopify owners.
This means Wholesale Gorilla can significantly reduce the need for a dedicated customer service or sales team.
With Bold Commerce, you are responsible for creating back-end checkouts, which can add more work behind the scenes to edit and fulfill the order correctly.
This reduces the amount of customization and can negatively affect the customer experience.
Discounts and Pricing
Both Wholesale Gorilla and Bold Commerce are savvy at offering customization when it comes to discounts and pricing.
Here’s a look at discounting features in Wholesale Gorilla.
In Wholesale Gorilla, Shopify owners have the ability to easily establish various pricing tiers, including different prices for wholesalers, international wholesalers, distributors, and international distributors.
The app also facilitates special pricing for donations and marketing samples, offering unprecedented flexibility that’s crucial for diverse and global customer bases.
Bold Commerce also offers flexibility for wholesale pricing and discounts, such as offering a percentage or $ off across the entire store or a specific group of products.
Let’s get into a more in-depth comparison of features and pricing.
Wholesale Gorilla & Bold Commerce: Side by Side
When it comes down to it, making a wholesale platform decision will likely come down to features and pricing.
So, next, let’s break down the unique features of both Wholesale Gorilla and Bold Commerce and share more on their pricing to help.
Here’s a look at features in Wholesale Gorilla that help tailor the checkout experience
Wholesale Gorilla Features
Wholesale Gorilla is built on top of Shopify’s native tagging and inventory management systems, so your wholesale inventory always remains in sync.
Here’s what makes up the core feature set:
- Wholesale Login Portal – Where customers go to sign in to see wholesale products.
- Quick Order Form: A line sheet page of wholesale products for purchase.
- Net Terms: Toggle for setting up net terms purchase options.
- Shipping Rules: Toggle for rates for wholesale-only shipments.
- Wholesale Pricing Rules: Discount settings, applicable to one or many customers.
It’s important to note that Wholesale Gorilla runs on top of whichever Shopify theme you choose and lets wholesale customers have the same experience as retail customers would, but with your wholesale products and prices.
Bold Commerce Features
In comparison, Bold Commerce offers a variety of apps that integrate with Shopify’s checkout and are designed specifically for maximizing performance and sales revenue rather than supporting and bolstering wholesale operations specifically, like Wholesale Gorilla.
Here’s what makes up its core feature set:
- Tailored Checkouts: Custom checkout flows based on shopper profile, device, and more.
- Subscriptions and Memberships: Enable recurring payments into subscriptions or offer memberships.
- Multiple Checkpoints: Allows shoppers to checkout from blogs, social media, QR codes, videos, and more.
- Custom Pricing: Complex pricing and promotion capabilities for multiple sales channels.
Essentially, Bold Commerce offers a versatile set of solutions for Shopify stores that’s tied to increasing individual purchases, whether B2B or DTC.
Pricing
Wholesale Gorilla offers a 21-day free trial. Afterwards, you can select the Lite Plan, which costs $34.95 per month, with the option to add additional features and support at a higher tier.
We operate on a subscription model, so you’ll pay the monthly fee regardless of order volume.
Bold Subscriptions, alone, are $49.99/monthly, with a 1% transaction fee. This transaction fee is charged every time a subscription order is placed and reoccurs.
That means if you process a high volume of orders through Bold Commerce subscriptions, you’ll most likely end up paying significantly more than Wholesale Gorilla. Let’s use a quick example:
If your store generates $100,000 in subscriptions per month, you would end up paying $1,000 in payout fees to Bold Commerce each time the subscription recurs. With Wholesale Gorilla, if you can generate the same amount of orders for your site, you only end up paying $34.95.
But keep in mind that it’s only one of the Bold Commerce tools that the platform provides.
If you wish to add additional features, each will come with its own individual cost.
Our Final Take: Wholesale Gorilla vs. Bold Commerce
Now that you’ve made it this far, what’s our final take on Wholesale Gorilla vs Bold Commerce?
As you likely have come to the conclusion, it’s like comparing apples to oranges.
Wholesale Gorilla is a robust, all-in-one solution for simplifying and supporting wholesale sales, whose customer-focused features nurture long-term relationships.
With its Shopify integrations, you’ll be able to set up your site in just a few minutes and start processing orders quickly.
Conversely, Bold Commerce is a trustworthy solution for increasing checkout success with DTC sales, with features that can support wholesale businesses.
Its features are definitely worth a look for specific checkout needs if your goal is to simplify checking out and offering memberships or subscriptions to customers.
Because of this, if you’re specifically focusing on wholesale orders and customers – Bold Commerce really shouldn’t be the only store you rely on.
Wholesale Gorilla is definitely a better option for Shopify owners who want to begin or streamline their wholesale operations.
Interested in becoming the next Shopify owner to transform the way you sell wholesale?
Sign up for your no-risk Wholesale Gorilla 21-day free trial now!
