What the difference means for how you build your Shopify store.
TL;DR
- CPG vs DTC comes down to one question: who buys from your store? A consumer, or a trade buyer?
- DTC stores are built to convert and retain shoppers: fast mobile checkout, subscriptions and retention tools.
- CPG stores serving wholesale need company accounts, buyer-specific pricing, payment terms and case-pack ordering.
- Since 2 April 2026, Shopify's B2B features are available on Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, not just Plus.
- Running both means separating inventory, pricing and products by channel from day one.
What is the difference between CPG and DTC?
CPG, or consumer packaged goods, describes what you sell: everyday products like food, drinks, supplements and personal care. DTC, or direct-to-consumer, describes how you sell: straight to shoppers through your own store, without a retailer in between.
That's why the two aren't opposites. A CPG brand can sell direct, through retail, or both. The real question for your store is which channel it serves.
| DTC store | CPG wholesale store | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary buyer | End consumer | Distributor, retailer or specialty shop |
| What “conversion” means | A shopper completes checkout | A trade buyer places a purchase order or reorder |
| Checkout | Fast, mobile-first, guest-friendly | Logged-in accounts, purchase order numbers, approvals |
| Pricing | One public price, promotions | Price lists per buyer, volume tiers |
| Payment | Card and wallets at checkout | Payment terms such as Net 30 or Net 60 |
| Order size | Single units and bundles | Cases and pallets, with order minimums |
| Retention tools | Subscriptions, loyalty, email and SMS | Quick reorder from order history |
| Fulfillment | Individual parcels | Case and pallet freight, retailer routing guides |
| Back-office link | 3PL and subscription platform | ERP, OMS and retailer EDI |
| What breaks it | A slow or confusing checkout | Late or incomplete deliveries to retailers |
Which question should you answer before any Shopify build?
Who is your primary buyer, and who controls the transaction? Answer that before wireframes, apps or themes. Everything else follows from it.
A shopper buying a wellness supplement needs a mobile-first page, subscription options, fast checkout and product education. A wholesale buyer placing a quarterly reorder needs a login, their own pricing, a purchase order field, payment terms and case-pack quantities.
Both can use the same product catalog. They need different checkout logic, pricing rules and account structures. Platform setup follows from that distinction, not the other way around.
Solo Media Group sees the cost of skipping this question often. A store built only for DTC lacks the workflows a trade buyer expects. A store built only for retail leaves subscription revenue on the table. Fixing either after launch usually means a partial rebuild.
What does a DTC Shopify store need?
A DTC store lives or dies on three things: winning a customer, converting them on the first visit, and keeping them long enough to make a profit. The whole tech stack serves that loop.
Repeat purchases pay back acquisition costs. For most DTC brands, the first order barely covers what it cost to win the customer. Profit comes from the second, third and tenth orders. That makes retention tools essential, not optional.
| Need | What to build |
|---|---|
| Fast first purchase | Mobile-first checkout, Shop Pay and other wallets |
| Repeat revenue | Subscriptions that support one-time and subscription items in the same cart |
| Failed payments | Automatic retry and reminder sequences, so subscribers aren't lost to an expired card |
| Lower first-purchase risk | Sample packs, starter kits and bundle builders |
| Higher order value | Post-purchase upsells, with tools such as Rebuy |
| Retention | Loyalty programs, plus Klaviyo email and SMS timed to reorder dates |
| Trust | Product pages that do the selling, since there's no shelf or store staff |
Which subscription tool? Shopify's own Subscriptions app suits brands testing simple replenishment. Platforms like Recharge, Skio, Smartrr and Stay AI suit brands that need swaps, skips, bundles and churn tools.
The proof that this works. When Solo Media Group rebuilt Manukora's store and subscription logic, subscription conversions rose 32% and returning customers rose 20%.
How do CPG brands use Shopify differently?
A CPG brand selling through retail and distribution often uses Shopify as a wholesale portal. Its online buyers are trade accounts, not shoppers. That buyer journey looks nothing like a consumer checkout.
A wholesale buyer expects:
- A company account with several buyers and locations
- Their own price list and volume pricing
- A purchase order number field at checkout
- Payment terms such as Net 30 or Net 60
- Order minimums and case-pack quantities, such as 12 units per case
- One-click reorders from order history
Do you need Shopify Plus for B2B wholesale?
Not anymore, for most brands. On 2 April 2026, Shopify opened its B2B features to the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans at no extra cost.
| B2B feature | Basic, Grow and Advanced | Shopify Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Company profiles for wholesale buyers | Yes | Yes |
| Custom catalogs with tailored pricing | Up to 3, assigned through Markets | Unlimited |
| Volume discounts and quantity rules | Yes | Yes |
| Payment terms | Yes | Yes |
| Vaulted credit cards | Yes | Yes |
| Catalogs assigned to specific companies and locations | No | Yes |
| Partial payments and deposits | No | Yes |
The three-catalog limit is the main reason a CPG brand would still choose Plus. If you need different pricing for many distributors or retail accounts, three catalogs won't be enough.
Shopify reports that merchants using its native B2B tools see up to 33% more self-serve orders within six months, and reorder frequency rising by up to 20%.
Plan availability and both figures: Shopify’s B2B announcement, April 2026. The percentages are Shopify’s own.
What does EDI mean for a CPG brand on Shopify?
Large retailers send and receive orders through EDI, or electronic data interchange. It isn't native to Shopify. It connects through an EDI provider, usually tied to an ERP or order management system.
| EDI document | What it does |
|---|---|
| 850 | Purchase order from the retailer |
| 855 | Your order acknowledgment |
| 856 | Advance ship notice, sent before the delivery arrives |
| 810 | Your invoice |
Each major retailer, including Walmart, Target and Costco, publishes its own supplier requirements. Those guides, not platform defaults, decide what your setup must do. In a CPG business, the Shopify store is often just the front end of a larger system.
Where do fulfillment and inventory split hardest?
DTC fulfillment ships individual parcels: one order, one customer, one tracking number, fast delivery and branded packaging.
CPG fulfillment ships cases and pallets: retailer routing guides, freight appointments, GS1-128 labels and shipping container codes, and strict delivery windows.
Why do retail delivery penalties matter?
Retailers fine suppliers who deliver late or incomplete. Walmart's on-time, in-full program expects 98% of cases to be collect-ready by the appointment time, 90% on-time for prepaid shipments, and 95% in-full for both. Suppliers who miss it pay a fine of 3% of the cost of goods on every non-compliant case.
A worked example. If 2,000 cases with a cost of $24 each miss the target, the fine is 3% of $48,000, or $1,440. That comes from one order, and the retailer relationship takes a hit too.
Walmart OTIF thresholds and the 3% deduction as published in its supplier requirements, read October 2026. Confirm against your own supplier agreement, since terms differ by retailer and freight type.
How do you stop DTC sales eating wholesale stock?
When both channels share one inventory pool, a DTC flash sale can sell stock already promised to a retailer. Then the retail order ships short.
Publish only what's truly available to your DTC store:
Units on hand − wholesale-committed units − DTC safety buffer = units to publish online
| Example | Units |
|---|---|
| On hand in the warehouse | 10,000 |
| Committed to open wholesale orders | − 6,000 |
| DTC safety buffer | − 500 |
| Published to the DTC store | 3,500 |
Shopify's locations feature is the simplest way to enforce this split. Brands with several retailers, EDI orders or shared warehouses usually need an ERP or OMS to do it reliably. Stock counts shown in Shopify don't stop a warehouse from picking the wrong units.
How do you avoid channel conflict between DTC and retail?
If shoppers can buy the same product cheaper on your website than in stores, retail partners have a reason to cut their orders. This is where brands make the most expensive, relationship-damaging mistakes.
The best fix is product strategy, not pricing strategy. Give each channel products the other doesn't carry.
| Sell on DTC | Sell through retail |
|---|---|
| Subscriptions | Core, fast-selling products |
| Bundles and variety packs | Standard pack sizes |
| Larger or bulk pack sizes | Shelf-ready packaging |
| Limited editions and new flavors first | Proven bestsellers |
| Personalized or build-your-own boxes |
When DTC has to promote a product that's also in stores:
- Match the retailer's public price instead of undercutting it
- Bundle it into a format with no shelf equivalent
- Limit the offer to subscribers or single-use codes
Share a promotional calendar across both channels, so neither one surprises the other with a discount.
Can one Shopify store serve both DTC and wholesale?
Yes, if it's planned for both from the start. You have two ways to do it.
| Approach | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| One blended store | Consumers and wholesale buyers use the same store. Logged-in buyers see their own catalog and pricing | Brands with simple wholesale and a few trade accounts |
| Separate wholesale store | A second Shopify store, often a Plus expansion store, runs wholesale on its own | Brands with complex wholesale rules or a very different buying experience |
The separate-store approach in practice. Solo Media Group built a dedicated Shopify Plus B2B expansion store for professional skincare brand Elm Biosciences, alongside its consumer store, serving its network of dermatologists. It includes gated access with an approval flow in Shopify Flow, checkout rules for order minimums and increments, first-order gift automation, a branded login, and ShipHero inventory sync across both stores.
Either way, a store serving both channels needs four parts, each with clear boundaries:
- A subscription platform for consumer replenishment that never touches wholesale orders
- A B2B setup with logins and account-specific pricing, separate from the consumer experience
- An ERP or OMS connection that allocates inventory by channel
- A retention stack, such as Klaviyo and Rebuy, wired to the DTC side only
Adding wholesale later costs more. A store designed around consumer checkout is hard to retrofit with B2B pricing, company accounts and EDI. Planning both on day one is usually cheaper than rebuilding later.
Frequently asked questions
Is DTC part of CPG?
DTC is a sales channel, and CPG is a product category. Many CPG brands sell DTC, through retail, or both. A snack brand selling on its own website is a CPG brand using a DTC channel.
Can a brand be both CPG and DTC?
Yes, and most growing CPG brands are. They sell direct for margin, customer data and subscriptions, and through retail for reach. The store must keep the two channels from competing on price or inventory.
Does a CPG brand need Shopify Plus?
Not for basic wholesale. Since April 2026, Shopify's Basic, Grow and Advanced plans include company profiles, up to three custom catalogs and payment terms. Plus is worth it for unlimited catalogs, deposits, partial payments and expansion stores.
Does Shopify support EDI?
Not natively. Shopify connects to retailer EDI through third-party providers, usually alongside an ERP or order management system.
What is the biggest mistake brands make running CPG and DTC together?
Selling the same products cheaper online than in stores. It gives retail partners a reason to cut orders. Give each channel its own products and formats instead.
Should I build for DTC or wholesale first?
Build for the channel that brings in most of your revenue now. Then plan for the other before launch. Adding wholesale to a DTC-only store later is harder and more expensive than designing for both.
Know your model before you build
CPG vs DTC isn't a marketing question. It decides your store structure, checkout, fulfillment, integrations and channel conflict risk. Shopify handles both models well, but only with deliberate planning.
Know your primary model before you build. If you run both, design for both from the start. A store that gives every buyer the same experience usually serves none of them well.
If you're working through this now, whether it's a new build, a replatform or wholesale added to an existing DTC store, talk to Solo Media Group. This is the architecture work we do every day.
