Account-based commerce uses a combination of accounts, contacts, and contracts to manage access to a storefront.

In order to provide an organization with access to an account-based storefront, the organization needs an account on that storefront with pertinent details such as the organization name, logo, billing and shipping addresses, tax reference number, and so on. Accounts are manually created for an account-based storefront using the administration interface.

Each account is associated with a list of contacts. A contact is an individual within an organization who is allowed to purchase from the account-based storefront. You must create contacts in the administration interface; contacts cannot simply register on the storefront like other shoppers.

Accounts are also assigned a catalog and a group of price lists. This assignment creates a contract between the storefront and the organization and defines what products the organization can purchase and how much it will pay for them.