Difference between Users, Accounts, and Buyers

Last updated April 15th at 9:55am

About this article

This article will help you understand the differences between Users, Accounts, and Buyers in terms of what each can do and why it is important that they are defined differently.

Accounts and Buyers

Accounts are the B2B equivalent of customers in DTC. Each account can have multiple Buyers. Each Buyer has the ability to login to the Showroom with their own set of credentials.

An example of the Accounts/Buyer combination would be to create a Store as an Account, and staff members that should receive access to the Showroom can be set up as Buyers.

You can learn how to create an account and buyer here.

Users/Agents vs Buyers

Each User can get access to multiple Accounts, and therefore to multiple Buyers. This is great to use when you wish to place orders on behalf of multiple Buyers.

Note that most of the time in Wholesale, the 'Agent' user preset is the most common selection for Users that should have access to different accounts. This excludes main Users that should be set up as Full access administrators so that they have access to everything in Centra, including different Accounts, allowing them to review/place orders on their behalf.

Note that the email address of Users/Agents and Buyers cannot be the same, as it leads to a conflict with the login to the Showroom.

How is the Showroom different when browsing it as a User, Agent, or Buyer

Logging in as an User/Agent

Upon login, Users/Agents land on a general page where they can create a selection:

Logging in as a Buyer

Upon login, Buyers land on the 'Home page' defined in the CMS pages settings:
However, if no page is selected as 'Home page', the Buyer lands on 'All products'.

The Showroom menu differs depending on whether you login as a Full access administrator, Agent, or Buyer. Note that different User presets also have different access and menu views, which you can see below. You can read more about User presets here.

Full access administrator (FAA) & Partner administrator - These users have access to all parts of Centra, as well as to all available parts and settings in the Showroom. They may have access to multiple Buyers and place orders on their behalf.
Agent and other User presets - Agents, Limited view and Pick & Pack Service Providers have the same menu in the Showroom, and their access is a bit more limited. They do not have access to CMS pages or Settings. These Users can access multiple Buyers and place orders on their behalf.
Buyer - Buyers have access to Selections, Orders, and Invoices only.