October 14, 2025
5 mins
Jack
If you’re running a B2B WooCommerce store, you’ve probably had at least one wholesale customer ask: “Can we send you purchase orders directly from our system?” And if you haven’t heard it yet, you will. Because let’s face it—nobody in the B2B world wants to manually re-key orders from their procurement system into your checkout page. That’s not just inefficient; it’s a recipe for errors, frustration, and cart abandonment.
The good news? WooCommerce can absolutely handle purchase order integrations. The even better news? There are several ways to set this up, depending on your technical chops and business needs.
Let’s dig into what purchase orders actually are, why they matter for your wholesale operation, and how you can connect your WooCommerce store to your customers’ procurement systems.
Table of Contents
A purchase order (PO) is basically a formal document that a buyer sends to a seller to authorize a purchase. Think of it as a contract that says, “Yes, we want to buy these specific items at these specific prices, and here’s our official authorization.”
In the B2B world, purchase orders are everywhere. Large companies use them to maintain control over spending, track budgets, and create an audit trail. When your wholesale customer’s procurement manager creates a PO in their system (think NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, or even QuickBooks), that document needs to make its way to you so you can fulfill it.
Here’s why POs matter for your WooCommerce store:
Streamlined ordering process: Your customers can order directly from their procurement system without logging into your site. That means fewer clicks, less friction, and happier buyers.
Reduced errors: No more playing telephone with order details. The data flows directly from their system to yours, minimizing transcription mistakes.
Faster order processing: When POs come in electronically, you can process them immediately. No more waiting for emails or phone calls.
Better customer relationships: Enterprise buyers expect this level of integration. If you can’t accept their POs electronically, they might take their business to a competitor who can.
Improved tracking and accountability: Both you and your customer have a clear record of what was ordered, when, and for how much.
Before we dive into implementation options, let’s talk about what’s actually happening under the hood. When you integrate purchase orders with WooCommerce, you’re essentially creating a bridge between two systems:
The technical term for this is “API integration,” but don’t let the jargon intimidate you. At its core, you’re just accepting structured order data instead of someone manually filling out a web form.
If you’re looking for a relatively painless way to accept purchase orders, there are several WooCommerce plugins that can help. These won’t necessarily provide full system-to-system integration, but they’ll get you started.
WooCommerce Purchase Order Gateway and similar plugins let customers select “Purchase Order” as a payment method during checkout. The customer enters their PO number, and you receive the order for manual approval and processing.
This is the simplest option, but it’s not true integration—your customers still need to manually create orders on your site. Think of it as PO-friendly checkout rather than automated PO acceptance.
When this works well: Small to medium wholesale operations where customers don’t mind logging in to place orders, but need to attach a PO number for their internal tracking.
The limitation: Your customers still have to manually place orders through your site. It’s not a true system-to-system connection.
This is where things get really interesting. Instead of relying on decades-old EDI standards, you can build a modern REST API integration that accepts purchase orders directly from your customers’ systems.
WooCommerce has a robust REST API that lets external systems create orders programmatically. The basic workflow looks like this:
You can also flip this around—instead of your customers pushing orders to you, your system can pull purchase order data from their API if they expose one.
The advantages:
The requirements:
When this works well: Your customers have modern ERP systems with API capabilities (most contemporary systems do), and you have access to decent development resources.
Here’s what we often recommend for growing B2B businesses: Start with the plugin approach for smaller customers, then add API integrations as you land bigger accounts.
You don’t need to build the perfect enterprise solution on day one. Begin by accepting purchase orders through a simple plugin, prove the business model, and invest in more sophisticated integrations as your customer base grows and demands it.
Think of it as crawl-walk-run:
Crawl: Use a plugin to accept PO numbers during checkout Walk: Build a basic API endpoint for customers who want automated ordering Run: Implement full API when enterprise customers require it
So you’re convinced that PO integration makes sense for your business. Here’s your action plan:
1. Survey your customers: Find out what they actually need. Are they okay entering orders manually with a PO number? Do they need automated integration? What systems do they use?
2. Assess your technical resources: Do you have developers in-house, or will you need to hire an agency (ahem, like us)? What’s your budget for this project?
3. Start simple: If most customers just need to attach a PO number, start with a plugin. You can always level up later.
4. Document everything: When you do build integrations, create clear API documentation for your customers’ IT teams. Include authentication details, data formats, error codes, and examples.
5. Plan for variations: Different customers will have different systems and requirements. Build your integration to be flexible enough to accommodate variations in data formats and fields.
6. Test thoroughly: Nothing’s worse than thinking an integration works, only to find out orders are being created with the wrong products or prices. Build a staging environment and test the heck out of it.
7. Monitor and support: Once integrations are live, monitor them closely. Set up alerts for failed order imports, and make sure your team knows how to troubleshoot issues quickly.
Purchase order integration isn’t just a nice-to-have feature for B2B WooCommerce stores—it’s increasingly becoming table stakes. Your wholesale customers expect seamless, automated ordering processes, and if you can’t provide that, you’re leaving money on the table (and probably losing customers to competitors who can).
The good news is that WooCommerce is flexible enough to support everything from simple PO number fields to full enterprise EDI integrations. The key is choosing the right approach for your current business needs while building a foundation that can scale as you grow.
Start where you are, use what you have, and build integrations that make sense for your customers and your technical capabilities. And if you need help figuring out the best approach for your specific situation? Well, that’s kind of our thing.
Want to discuss purchase order integration for your WooCommerce store? We’ve helped dozens of B2B manufacturers and distributors streamline their wholesale ordering processes. Let’s talk about what makes sense for your business.
2025-10-07 
6 mins 
Jack Whether you're kicking off a new project or looking to improve your current site, we're here to make it happen. Let’s build something that not only works for your business but helps it grow.
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206-806-7809
Headquarters
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, US
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