How to set up company accounts, roles, and approvals in Shopware 6 B2B?
Quick Answer
Shopware 6 supports company accounts, buyer roles, approval flows, and employee permissions through its B2B Components and customer management features. The cleanest setup is to create one company account structure first, then add role-based permissions and purchase approval rules after your catalog and pricing logic are stable. The process below covers the setup order most B2B stores use in production.
Before You Start
- ✦Shopware B2B Components access — approval chains and company structures are not available in a standard B2C setup.
- ✦Customer group strategy — pricing, tax rules, and catalog visibility usually depend on this.
- ✦Clear internal approval policy — define spending limits and approvers before configuring workflows.
Enable B2B account structure
Start by enabling your B2B feature set and deciding how companies will exist inside Shopware. Most stores use one parent company account with multiple employee users underneath it. That keeps order history, pricing, and invoicing grouped correctly. If you skip this planning stage, you usually end up rebuilding permissions later after real buyers start using the portal.
- Enable B2B Components in your Shopware setup
- Create customer groups for B2B companies
- Define parent company ownership rules
Create company users and roles
Build role types around purchasing responsibility instead of job titles. In real projects, we normally see four roles: buyer, approver, finance, and company admin. Keep permissions narrow at first. Buyers should not manage tax settings or payment methods unless there’s a real business reason. Smaller permission sets are easier to audit later.
- Create employee accounts under the company profile
- Assign storefront and order permissions by role
- Restrict payment and address management where needed
Configure approval workflows
Approval rules usually depend on order value, department, or payment method. Most B2B stores start with a simple threshold setup. For example, orders under €500 go through automatically, while larger orders require manager approval. Keep the first version simple. Complex multi-level approval trees slow down purchasing and frustrate buyers fast.
- Define approval thresholds by order value
- Assign approvers to each company account
- Configure notification emails for pending approvals
Connect pricing and catalogs
B2B permissions only work properly when tied to the right catalog and pricing structure. Most wholesale stores hide specific categories, brands, or products from standard buyers. Your approval setup should match the commercial rules behind the account. Otherwise buyers may approve orders for products they were never meant to access.
- Assign customer-specific pricing where needed
- Restrict catalogs by customer group or role
- Test visibility using non-admin accounts
Test the full purchase flow
Before launch, run end-to-end tests with multiple employee roles. This catches most B2B issues early. Test rejected approvals, abandoned carts, quote requests, and invoice-based payments. Also test what happens when an approver is removed from the company account. That edge case breaks more workflows than most teams expect.
- Create test buyers and approvers
- Validate approval email delivery
- Confirm order status updates after approval
Shopware B2B Setup Checklist
0 of 6 completeKey Takeaway
The short version: Shopware 6 B2B works best when company structure, permissions, and approval rules are planned together instead of added one at a time. Keep roles simple, limit admin access, and test the entire order lifecycle with real user accounts before launch. Most approval issues come from overly complex permission trees or missing catalog restrictions. Start with Step 1—that one alone handles most of it.
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