With customer groups you can limit what categories, products, and content your customer can see by assigning them to a certain group. 


  • A common example of this would be a "Retail" group vs "Wholesale" group where the "Wholesale" group would have access to different products and/or a different pricing structure for the same products.


  • Another example that you could use this feature for would be if you sold to sports teams and you only wanted a specific team to be able to see their products and no others. You could set up a customer group with the name of the team and then assign all of those players and coaches to that customer group, then set that group to only be able to see their particular products.

 

Create Customer Group


  • Click on Marketing→ Pricing Discounts → Customer Group Pricing (Configure) → Add New Customer Group  
  • Give the group a name and check the options you want the group to have:
    • Default Customer Group For New Accounts - Whichever group has this checked will be the default group that the customer is placed into when they create an account on the storefront. Typically this would be your "Retail" group.
    • New Customers MUST be approved by Admin before they can log in - This will only appear if you have "Default Customer Group For New Accounts" enabled. If this is checked, customers will be able to create accounts but they will not be able to log in until you approve their account. (You can approve a customer by editing their account, going to the Miscellaneous tab, and changing the Status from Pending to Approved.)
    • Tax Exempt - If this is enabled, all customers in the group will not be charged tax.
    • View Pricing and Add to Cart - This is enabled by default and allows the customer to see pricing on the storefront and to be able to add products to their cart. You would not want to disable this setting unless you want the group members to only see the store in "catalog mode."
    • Default Create Customer Type - This is used when you, as the admin, create a customer account in the admin area (as opposed to on the storefront). This is typically for "Wholesale" customers. When customers sign up on the storefront, they would be put into the default group (e.g. "Retail"), but when you create the accounts yourself in the admin, they are automatically assigned to the "Wholesale" group. Otherwise, they would be assigned to the "Retail" group and you would have to manually change each one to "Wholesale."  
    • Free Shipping - If this is enabled, all customers within the group will get free shipping. If you only want to allow free shipping for a limited time, you can set an expiration date.
    • Allow Customer to Leave this Group - With this checked, the customer will be able to leave their group by clicking the "Leave This Group: [Group Name]" link on their My Account page. You can also select which group they'd be switched to. For example, you might set this option for your "Wholesale" group to give them the option of switching to the "Retail" group.
    • Min Order Amt - If you require a minimum order amount for your group, this is where you would input that amount. For example, if your "Wholesale" members must hit a $200 subtotal, you would enter 200 into this field.
 

Assigning Customers to Groups

  • Click on Customers→ View or Manage Customers
  • Click on the customer name you want to edit
  • Edit Customer→ Discounts   
  • Select the group you want to assign them to in the Customer Group drop-down
  • When done, click Save.

note: You can also bulk assign customers to a group by running a customer import.

  • We recommend creating all groups first, then running an export of your customers.
  • Go to Customers→ Export Customers
  • Update the export CSV file by marking a Y in the appropriate customer group column and then import it.
  • Go to Customers→ Import Customers. 

 

Setting Up Customer Group Pricing


It's common to have multiple pricing structures for your groups, particularly in a "Retail" vs "Wholesale" scenario. You have three pricing options for your groups: Exact Amount, Percentage off the Regular Price, and No Discount. You also have these three options for your variants options and personalizations.

To select the pricing option:

  • Click on Customers→ Customer Group → Settings
  • Set the Product Price to Exact Amount, Percentage off the Regular Price, or No Discount
  • If applicable, set the Options pricing as well.
  • When done, click Save.
  • If you chose Percentage off the Regular Price:
    • Go to Customers→ Customer Groups, edit each group.
    • You will see a field where you can input the percentage % off.
  • If you chose Exact Amount:
    • Go to Inventory→ View or Manage Products and edit a product.
    • Click into the Price field and you will see a drop down listing all of your groups.
    • Click a group name, then enter the price. 
    • Repeat for each group.
    • You can also input a Default Price, which will be used if no price is designated for a group.
    • Note: Sales pricing will not be available for a group if a group price is set. Leave the group price blank if you want that group to see the sales price.
  • If you chose Exact Amount for options:
    • Inventory→ View or Manage Products → Edit → Variants
  • Click the personalization question in the left side navigation, then edit one of your personalization answers.
  • Click into the Price field and you will see a drop down listing all of your groups. Click a group name, then enter the price. Repeat for each group and for each personalization answer.
  • If you're using options instead of personalizations, you will need to edit the price of the Option Sets (not the Option groups).

 

Restricting Groups to Viewing Select Categories

  • Click on Customers→ Customer Groups
  • On the top of this page, you will see Restrict Customer Groups to only view selected categories. Check this and click Save.
  • Now you will need to edit the customer groups.
  • Click on a group to edit and on the next screen, you will be able to select which categories that group can view.
  • To select multiple categories, hold down the CTRL key and click each category name.

note: Any time you add a new category, you will need to be sure to edit each group and select that category if you want them to be able to view it. New categories are NOT selected by default.

 

Restricting Groups to Viewing Select Content Pages


By default, when you create customer groups, customers will NOT be able to see your content pages. You may notice that when you enable customer groups, your Information widget or footer links disappear, or content pages may redirect to the home page. You will need to make sure that each content page has customer groups selected for it.

  • Click on Site Content→ Pages
  • Edit one of your pages → Edit → General Info
  • You will see a Customer Groups section at the bottom. 
  • Select all the groups that can view this page 

note: to select multiple groups, hold down the CTRL key, while holding down this key, click each group name to enable that specific customer group.

  • When done, click Save.
  • Repeat these steps for your other pages.


note: Any time you add a new page, you will need to be sure to edit that page and select the customer groups that can view it. You will also need to do this anytime you add a new customer group.