Commerce models and channels

An order has a model (what kind of commerce it is) and a channel (where it came in). Both are part of the order input and both are checked when the order starts. The model also decides which flow a new flow starts from and how lines are priced.

Models

Models: b2b, b2c, d2c, marketplace, subscription, procurement, replenishment.

Model	Pricing	Starts from	Built-in flows
`b2b` (B2B)	Sell-side, price chain	`tpl-b2b-order`	tpl-b2b-order
`b2c` (B2C retail)	Sell-side, price chain	`tpl-storefront-order`	tpl-storefront-order, tpl-pos-sale
`d2c` (Direct to consumer)	Sell-side, price chain	`tpl-omnichannel-order`	tpl-omnichannel-order
`marketplace` (Marketplace)	Sell-side, price chain	`tpl-marketplace-order`	tpl-marketplace-order
`subscription` (Subscription)	Sell-side, price chain	`tpl-subscription`	tpl-subscription
`procurement` (Procurement)	Buy-side, at cost	`tpl-purchase-request`	tpl-purchase-request
`replenishment` (Replenishment)	Buy-side, at cost	`tpl-reorder`	tpl-reorder

input.model is required. A flow has one model and a list of channels it is meant for. Inbound routing and the UI use the channels; they do not restrict which orders run on the flow.

Channels

Channels: web, mobile, pos, marketplace, email, edi, api, manual, schedule. input.channel defaults to api. The dashboard starts orders as manual, email intake as email, and the daily stock review as schedule. Storefronts, marketplaces and POS systems send orders with a signed webhook; see Inbound orders, and Shopify webhooks and EDI X12 850 purchase orders (channel edi, label EDI, b2b) arrive through Channel adapters. Orders on pos run the point-of-sale flow, tpl-pos-sale, for the b2c and d2c models. GET /api/v1/orders filters on model and channel (see REST API).

Pricing

Procurement and replenishment orders are buy-side: the business is the buyer, so lines price at the product’s cost. Every other model is sell-side and runs the pricing chain (price book, contract, volume, list).

The Price node’s basis field makes that explicit:

`basis`	Lines are priced
`auto` (default)	At cost for buy-side models, through the chain otherwise
`chain`	Through the pricing chain, whatever the model
`cost`	At the product’s cost

A line with its own unitPrice keeps it under every basis.

Order fields

Besides customerId, currency, lines and meta, the input takes:

Field	Meaning
`externalId`	The order’s id in its channel (storefront, marketplace, POS). Searchable with `q`
`contact`	`{ email, name?, phone? }` for a buyer without a customer account, such as guest checkout or a POS receipt. `email` is searchable with `q`
`fulfillment`	`{ method, locationId? }`. `method` is one of `ship`, `pickup`, `carry_out`, `digital`; `locationId` is the store to fulfil from or hand over at. See Fulfillment
`lines[].sellerId`	The marketplace seller for a line; otherwise the product’s seller, or first party
`lines[].locationId`	Set by route fulfillment on a split shipment: the store a line ships from. Unset means `fulfillment.locationId`, or central stock

All of these are on the run context’s order (see Expressions), so a condition can branch on order.model, order.channel or order.fulfillment.method. The order list filters on model and channel and searches externalId and the contact email, and the outbound webhook order summary carries model, channel and externalId.

Customers have a kind: business, consumer or internal.

Guest checkout

An order with a contact and no customerId is a guest order. The dashboard’s New order form sends it from the Guest email and Guest name fields, and the Guest checkout demo scenario (where the demo data is loaded) starts one. The order page shows Guest · <email> in place of a customer.

Credit check: a guest, or a customer whose kind is not business, has no credit account. The node takes the branch set by noAccount (over_limit by default, ok to let them through) and reports “Guest checkout (no credit account)” or “No credit account (consumer)”.
Generate invoice: only an invoice to a business customer that is not yet paid in full is added to their balance, and its summary ends “· on account”. Set onAccount to false to never add it. terms defaults to due_on_receipt.
Notify with to: customer falls back to contact.email.
Risk score: the offline heuristic adds 15 for a guest (“Guest checkout”) and 30 for an order with neither customer nor contact (“Unknown customer”).
The back office customers table shows each customer’s kind; a consumer or internal customer reads “Pays at checkout” in place of payment terms.

Starting a flow for a model

New flow on /flows takes a model. With the Template start it copies that model’s default flow from the table above into a new flow of its own, so editing the copy never changes the built-in one (see Building flows). b2c starts from the storefront flow, tpl-storefront-order, and d2c from tpl-omnichannel-order, which routes each order to shipping, store pickup or digital delivery (see Fulfillment); marketplace has its own, tpl-marketplace-order (see Marketplace).