BigCommerce B2B Edition:
Managing Company Hierarchies

For B2B organizations with multiple divisions, franchisees, or business units, keeping account structures organized has traditionally meant spreadsheets, workarounds, and a lot of manual oversight. BigCommerce’s new company hierarchy feature, available in B2B Edition, is a welcome change—finally offering a native way to structure and manage parent-child relationships between business accounts.

Why Company Hierarchies Matter

This feature is a meaningful step forward for merchants serving customers with complex organizational needs, including:

• Enterprises with multiple subsidiaries or internal divisions
• Franchisors managing independent franchisees
• Government agencies with departmental segmentation
• Construction firms overseeing projects or job sites
• Any organization with multi-step approval workflows

The biggest impact? You’ll see it with your largest, most complex customers—the ones transacting at scale and requiring tailored access or pricing.

Feature Overview: Strengths & Limitations

BigCommerce’s company hierarchy feature strikes a strong balance—it’s powerful enough for enterprise needs, yet simple enough for teams to adopt quickly.

Strengths

• User-Friendly Interface: Easy to navigate, even for non-technical users
• Simple Change Management: Adjust relationships with minimal clicks
• Flexible Structure: Build hierarchies from existing company accounts
• Granular Pricing: Assign separate price lists per company
• Permission Control: Manage visibility between parent and child accounts
• Account Switching: End users can move between companies seamlessly
• API Support: Full API access makes CRM/ERP integration straightforward

Limitations

• No Inherited Settings: Payment/shipping rules don’t cascade from parent to child
• Restricted Customer Management: Customers can’t create or manage sub-companies
• Manual Setup Required: Admins must establish and maintain relationships. 

Despite these limitations, this is a well-executed, high-impact feature that strengthens BigCommerce’s B2B toolset in practical ways.

How to Set Up Company Hierarchies

Admin Configuration

1. Navigate to the B2B Edition area in your BigCommerce admin panel
2. Open the Companies section to view existing accounts
3. To create a hierarchy:

• Select a company you want to assign as a subsidiary
• Use the “Parent Company” field to assign its parent

1. Review structure under the Hierarchy tab

• Supports up to five levels deep—more than enough for most B2B scenarios

Permission Setup

• The default Admin role doesn’t include access to child accounts
• Create a new role (we suggest calling it Super Admin) with access to subsidiaries
• Since this permission is shared across all companies, user training is important to avoid confusion

Migrating Existing Company Accounts

If you already have multiple companies set up and need to organize them into a hierarchy:

1. Export your company data from BigCommerce
2. Add a column for parent company IDs
3. Import the updated data—this is faster than setting relationships manually

Frontend Customer Experience

Once configured, the end user experience includes:

• Company Selector: A dropdown menu for switching between accounts
• Visual Indicator: Shows which company the user is currently representing
• Filtered Views: Orders, invoices, and quotes are viewable by company
• User Management: Add users within whichever company you’re acting on behalf of
• Structure Display: A simple, helpful visualization of the hierarchy

Strategic Considerations Before You Implement

When rolling out company hierarchies, keep these planning tips in mind:

• Individual Configuration: Since settings don’t cascade, each subsidiary needs separate setup time
• Clear Internal Processes: Customers can’t create subsidiaries—define how your team handles these requests
• Sales & Support Training: Your internal teams should understand how to explain and navigate the system
• Role Assignment Guidelines: Prevent security issues by clearly defining who should manage sub-companies

The Bigger Picture

This release continues BigCommerce’s track record of thoughtful iteration—solving real pain points without unnecessary complexity. It’s not a reinvention of the platform, but it addresses a long-standing need for merchants managing multiple B2B entities.

As a Preferred BigCommerce Partner, SwiftOtter works alongside merchants to make B2B features—like company hierarchies—work for their real-world business needs. Whether you’re exploring a move to BigCommerce or fine-tuning your current implementation, we bring both the technical know-how and strategic clarity to help you get the most out of your investment.