Identical products except retail or D2C packaging

Product Development & Sourcing
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Topic summary

A manufacturer selling identical products with two packaging types seeks guidance on storefront setup for B2B and D2C. One package is retail‑ready for wholesale customers; the other is a direct‑to‑consumer (D2C) version. Consumers may also purchase the retail‑ready package.

Goal: segment product visibility and inventory by customer type. For each product (e.g., Product X):

  • Wholesale buyers should see only the retail‑ready packaging and its inventory.
  • D2C shoppers should see both packaging options and their combined availability.

The author is considering creating a separate, wholesale‑only store as a possible solution and asks whether this is the best approach versus alternatives (e.g., variants, customer groups, or catalog segmentation).

No platform, technical constraints, or implementation details are provided. No images or attachments are referenced.

Outcome: no decisions or answers yet. The discussion remains open with the key question—best method to structure the store and inventory visibility for wholesale vs. D2C—unresolved.

Summarized with AI on January 23. AI used: gpt-5.
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Some of my products (which I produce myself) have 2 different packagings. One kind of packaging is for some (wholesale) customers that require products in specific, retail ready, packaging. The other kind of packaging is for my direct-to-consumers only. They can also buy the retail ready packaging.

How can I put this in my store? I can create a new store for wholesale only, if that is best.

If I have product X that has both retail-ready and direct-to-consumer packaging, I want my wholesale customers to see inventory for product X with retail-ready packaging only. I want my direct-to-consumer shoppers to see inventory for product X that reflects both kinds of packaging.

What’s the best way to set this up?

TIA