Trade Shopify Theme Review: The Best Free B2B Theme?

trade shopify theme review

Finding the ideal theme for your Shopify store isn’t easy, particularly if you’re running a B2B business with a limited budget. Most of Shopify’s free themes are simple, but great for beginners in the B2C landscape. The Trade Shopify theme is different.

Introduced in 2024, “Trade” is a free theme specifically designed for B2B merchants.

As a website developer myself, I can definitely say I’ve seen more advanced theme options out there, but the Trade theme does offer a great starting point to B2B sellers who need access to specific features, such as sign-up forms for wholesale partners, and volume pricing rules.

So, is this the ideal starter theme for your B2B store?

I tested the Trade theme on a demo account to discover all of its potential pros and cons.

Quick Verdict: Pros and Cons

The Trade theme is a decent “beginner-level” B2B theme in my opinion.

It doesn’t have the best reputation among Shopify merchants (more than 50% of the reviews on the Shopify theme store are negative).

However, I think that comes down to the fact that the theme still has some bugs and issues to be worked out, and that you need a Shopify Plus account to really take advantage of its unique capabilities.

It’s still a decent theme overall, though, with a clean and simple layout, a few great must-have features (like a mega menu and cross-selling capabilities), and a lot of extra benefits for merchants who do have the right Shopify account. Plus, it’s completely free to use.

Pros:

  • Free theme
  • Great range of customization options
  • Excellent marketing features (such as cross-selling options)
  • Decent merchandising capabilities
  • Advanced B2B features for Shopify Plus merchants
  • Fantastic product discovery and navigation options

Cons:

  • No alternative theme pre-sets
  • Occasional bugs and technical errors
  • Basic functionality in some areas
  • Requires a Shopify Plus account to access the best features

The Trade Shopify Theme: Overview and Pricing

trade

The Trade theme is a free theme built by Shopify specifically for B2B companies and wholesale brands. It was created to give companies using Shopify’s range of B2B capabilities (available through a Shopify Plus subscription), an accompanying theme that supports unique functions.

Anyone can use the theme – even if they don’t have a Shopify Plus subscription, but you’ll miss out on crucial capabilities, like volume pricing options.

Without the B2B features offered by Shopify Plus, the Trade theme is pretty similar to any other free theme offered by the ecommerce platform.

Unlike many premium themes, it lacks a lot of advanced capabilities, like access to wish lists, in-menu promos, badge options, and breadcrumb menus. It also only comes with one “preset” option, so you can’t explore a range of styles.

Trade Shopify Theme Review: The Core Features

As I mentioned above, as a free option, the Trade theme is pretty simplistic. It’s not as feature-rich as a lot of the premium solutions you can find on the Shopify theme store, and on external platforms. However, it does give you a great foundation for building a B2B store.

The theme itself looks clean and professional, and like all Shopify themes, it’s designed to deliver excellent responsivity and ultra-fast loading times.

It also includes access to free high-resolution photos from Shopify Burst, free theme updates, and is fully optimized for B2B stores.

With this theme, Shopify Plus customers can take full advantage of various features for optimizing purchasing processes, and streamlining buyer experiences.

There are also some great features built-in that are beneficial for any store owner, like the mega menu, enhanced search, and cross-selling tools.

The Cart and Checkout Features

First, the Trade theme includes all of the basic cart and checkout features you’d usually find in a free Shopify theme, such as a quick buy function, slide-out cart, in-store pickups option, and cart notes.

Where this theme starts to shine is when you combine it with a Shopify Plus subscription.

If you’re a Shopify Plus Merchant, you can take advantage of a “bulk checkout” solution, with custom ordering and pricing rules.

You’ll be able to design price catalogs for different customers, based on their needs, although it does take a little work in the “Theme Editor” to create cart sections.

Users can also create specific volume pricing rules, using a native section called the “Quick Order List”. This incorporates features for custom pricing and discounts that take advantage of all the functionality you’ll get with Shopify Plus.

There’s also an extra option to create a sign-up form for wholesale partners if you want to attract new resellers to your store.

This is a great way to expand your product portfolio, and unlock the full functionality of the Shopify Forms app within your theme.

The bad news is that none of these features are actually available unless you do have a Shopify Plus account, and without them, the cart and checkout functionality is pretty basic.

Marketing and Conversion Features

There aren’t any specific “advanced” marketing and conversion features available to B2B store owners on the Trade theme, even if you do have a Shopify Plus account. However, you do get some handy features that will be beneficial to all stores.

Alongside standard options, like the ability to create and promote blogs, and design a comprehensive FAQ page, you can also create “quick order lists” – which are great for customers buying in bulk.

There’s a quick view option for customers pressed for time on your website, and you can suggest “cross-sell” add-ons for specific items.

I particularly love the “recommended products” feature, which make it easy to showcase all of the related products your customers might be interested in when they’re browsing through your catalog and product pages.

Plus, the additional “stock counter” is handy for both B2B and B2C customers. It’s ideal for creating a sense of urgency, and prompting customers to convert faster.

Merchandising Features

There weren’t a lot of “merchandising” features in the Trade theme that really stood out to me while I was testing it on my demo store.

Nothing that you get seems to be specifically tuned to the needs of B2B companies here.

You can add extensive usage information to each products, which is handy if you need to provide your customers with details about product features, materials, and ingredients.

You can also create slideshows with high-resolution images, which is great for boosting engagement, and there’s support for animations, image rollover effects, and product videos too.

Plus, you can design image galleries, with zoom options, create product tabs for access to additional information, and showcase color swatches for different variants of products.

However, most of these features are pretty commonplace in most Shopify themes, so I don’t think any of them make the Trade theme really impressive.

Product Discovery Features

There are quite a few product discovery and navigation features that stand out for me in the Trade theme, starting with the included mega menu.

This is an absolute must-have feature, particularly for a B2B company with a large product portfolio.

You’ll have no trouble showcasing multiple product categories and sections to customers, so they can easily navigate your store.

You also get a fantastic range of product and filtering options, so customers can sort through items based on things like color, size, brand, or price.

Plus, the enhanced search function comes with a convenient “autocomplete” capability, to help buyers track down the exact items they’re looking for.

On top of all that, you also get swatch filters and a sticky header. I would have liked to see some more advanced capabilities, like recommended products in the menu, and a “recently viewed” option, but all-around, the Trade theme is great for navigation.

Trade Shopify Theme Review: The Verdict

Ultimately, I can see why the Trade Shopify theme doesn’t have the best reputation on the Shopify theme store just yet. It does have a lot of limitations – particularly if you’re not a Shopify Plus customer. However, there are a lot of things to like about this theme too.

For a free theme, it’s still packed with plenty of useful features, like the mega menu, recommended products section, and the enhanced search function.

Plus, if you do have a Shopify Plus subscription, you’ll be able to take full advantage of some unique B2B capabilities with this theme.

All around, I think the Trade theme a decent starter theme for B2B merchants, although you may still want to upgrade to a premium alternative as your business starts to grow.

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I'm a highly motivated self-taught software developer with over a decade of experience. My journey in software development began when I left college to pursue my passion, and since then I have been working on a wide range of projects. I have extensive experience creating custom WordPress sites, mobile apps using React Native, web apps using React-based frameworks, and Shopify apps with Node.js. I have also played with numerous other technologies, tools, and frameworks over time, and have contributed to many open-source projects. I pride myself on creating clean, well-formatted, and properly documented code that is easy to maintain. My perfectionist approach ensures that every project I deliver meets the highest standards. I always ask myself, "If I were the client, would I be happy with this?" This mindset has helped me to deliver excellent projects for my clients and build a reputation for quality work.

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