How to Manage Multi-Level Approvals in Shopify for B2B Purchasing?

In many B2B organizations, purchasing decisions aren't made by a single individual, but rather through a structured process involving multiple stakeholders. This approval workflow is essential for maintaining control, ensuring compliance, and optimizing supply chain efficiency.

So how do you replicate this reality in a Shopify environment? For companies looking to digitize their procurement process, Shopify can pose challenges. Advanced B2B needs, like multi-level approval workflows or centralized purchase request management across multiple users, often require tailored configurations. Without these enhancements, functionality gaps can slow down digital transformation initiatives.

For example, a manufacturer group with multiple locations. A site manager creates a purchase request for their team, but the order must be approved by a regional manager and sometimes a corporate account administrator. Without a clear workflow, approvals happen over email, orders are duplicated, and tracking becomes unmanageable.

In many B2B organizations, purchasing is not a one-person task, it’s a structured process that involves multiple roles. This decision-making cycle is critical for maintaining control, ensuring compliance, and improving supply chain efficiency.

How can you structure roles and permissions within a Shopify B2B account?

In many B2B companies, procurement involves different levels of responsibility. Some users identify needs, others prepare the orders, and managers or administrators validate and approve expenses. For manufacturers or distributors, this often means managing multiple manual steps outside the platform to retain control over spending.

With SPINE, companies can create multiple users under a single business account and assign them specific roles based on their responsibilities. Whether it’s building purchase lists, submitting requests, finalizing approvals, or managing the account, permissions are fully customizable.

This granularity ensures that SPINE adapts to any business model, from SMBs to large multi-site enterprises. The result is a controlled but flexible procurement experience, aligned with internal processes and scalable with your operations.

This structure enables businesses to maintain strict purchasing control while providing teams with the autonomy they need, within clear boundaries. It accurately reflects the internal processes already in place in most B2B organizations, without adding complexity to the user experience.

How can you create and approve purchase lists in a B2B context on Shopify?

In the manufacturing and distribution sectors, purchases are often planned, prepared in advance, and submitted for validation before becoming official orders. Purchase lists play a central role in the procurement process by allowing field teams, buyers, and managers to collaborate effectively, while complying with internal policies.

SPINE enables users to create purchase lists directly from their Shopify account, selecting the necessary products and quantities. Once completed, the list can be submitted to an approver within the organization.

The entire approval and list management workflow can be tailored to each company’s business model and specific needs. Approval steps, involved roles, and validation rules are fully configurable to reflect the unique operational structure of every organization.

Administrators have access to a centralized space where they can review requests, adjust quantities, add comments, and approve or reject purchases based on predefined rules. Once approved, the list can be converted into a Shopify order in just a few clicks, no duplication or re-entry required.

How can you optimize B2B workflows with notifications and clear user assignments?

An effective approval process also relies on clear and timely communication between stakeholders. Delays, oversights, or missed validations can quickly impact operational efficiency.

With SPINE, it’s possible to automate notifications tied to key actions in the purchasing cycle, such as submitting a list for approval, a decision made by a manager, or the addition of a new user to a business account. Each relevant stakeholder receives a real-time notification, helping to maintain a smooth and transparent workflow.

By keeping teams informed at every step, these automations help accelerate decision-making, reduce internal friction, and improve the overall experience for B2B users.

At Novatize, we understand that B2B eCommerce can't be built on generic solutions. It requires a deep understanding of complex operations, mastery of the right technologies, and the ability to translate these realities into a seamless digital experience. That’s exactly why we developed SPINE, so companies can structure their purchasing processes while fully leveraging the flexibility of Shopify. Designed for demanding environments, this solution helps build high-performance, connected eCommerce ecosystems that align with the best practices of unified commerce.

Ready to take your B2B eCommerce to the next level?

Pierre-Olivier Brassard

Vice President - Products and Technology, Partner

contact@novatize.com+1 844 932-6682

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