Shopify Plus B2C Launch - We Are Gourmet Goes Live

We Are Gourmet, our direct-to-consumer brand, officially launched on Shopify Plus last month. After running B2B distribution for decades, going D2C was a strategic experiment - and a technical challenge that stretched our e-commerce capabilities.

Why Shopify Plus Instead of Adobe Commerce

We already run Adobe Commerce for B2B. The natural question: why not extend it for B2C?

The answer: B2C and B2B are fundamentally different. B2B is relationship-driven, negotiated pricing, complex approval workflows. B2C is high-volume, standard pricing, frictionless checkout. Trying to serve both on one platform creates compromises for each.

Shopify Plus offered:

• Best-in-class checkout conversion
• Native integration with consumer marketing tools (Klaviyo, Meta, Google)
• Lower operational overhead than self-hosted
• Faster time-to-market for a new venture

Integration Architecture

The challenge: inventory is shared. A ribeye that sells B2C can't also be promised B2B. We needed real-time inventory sync between Shopify Plus, Adobe Commerce, and our ERP.

Solution: Inventory sync via middleware (Azure Logic Apps). Every sale on either platform immediately updates available inventory on both. Webhook-driven for near-real-time accuracy.

Order fulfillment flows through our existing WMS. B2C orders get packed differently (consumer packaging vs. bulk), but the warehouse processes are unified.

Lessons Learned

Shipping is complicated. B2B customers accept next-day or 2-day delivery. B2C consumers expect cheap or free shipping. Perishable food + affordable shipping is a challenging equation we're still optimizing.

Customer service is different. B2B customers are professionals who understand the product. B2C customers ask questions about cooking, storage, and quality that our B2B team never encountered.

Marketing is everything. B2B sales is relationship-driven. B2C sales is marketing-driven. We partnered with a D2C marketing agency because this wasn't our core competency.

Early results are promising. We'll see if this experiment becomes a significant revenue channel or an expensive education.