How to showcase inventory quantity and metafields in Shopify Plus wholesale channel?

Legacy boards (read-only) Wholesale And Dropshipping

Topic summary

  • Need: Display inventory quantity/stock status and use metafields (custom product fields) in the Shopify Plus Wholesale channel, especially to support back-orders and communicate low stock or estimated delivery times.

  • Limitation: Enabling back-orders via “Allow purchase when out of stock” works functionally, but the wholesale storefront does not visually indicate when items are out of stock or show inventory levels. Metafields are not readily surfaced for wholesale display.

  • Workaround suggested: Use “Allow purchase when out of stock” as a temporary measure. This is already enabled by the original poster and does not solve the visibility/communication need to customers.

  • Platform updates: One participant reports Shopify is working on strengthening the wholesale backend to offer more options, but no details or timeline were provided.

  • Status: No native way confirmed to show stock levels or metafields in the wholesale channel. The request remains open with no resolution or concrete action items beyond waiting for Shopify’s updates.

Summarized with AI on February 21. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi,

We are new to Shopify Plus, and one of the main reasons we adapted it was because of the wholesale channel. It is however way more limited than i thought – I was aware that it has it limits, but some of its limitations almost makes it unusable for our business.

A feature that we would very much like to see is the implementation of metafields and a way to showcase inventory quantity. We would like to offer back-orders to our customers, why we have enabled out-of-stock items. But if the out-of-stock option is activated, it is not possible to visually show, that the product is out of stock – showcasing low stock would also be great!

Maybe I have overlooked something, but the implementation of these features would be highly appreciated! :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks,

Simeon

2

Hey Simeon,

We have experienced quite a few shortcomings when it comes to Shopify Plus Wholesale. The good news is that they are working on beefing up the wholesale side of the back end so we have more options when offering wholesale to our customers. One potential option would be to check off the “Allow purchase when out of stock” option. That may solve the issue you are having short term until they upgrade the wholesale channel.

1 Like
3

Thank you for you response! I’m looking forward to the upgrades :slightly_smiling_face:

We have the option on already, it was more for the customer to see whether or not the product is sold out or the inventory level – and the dream scenario would be to communicate an estimated delivery time. But for now the first request would be amazing!