Quick Answer
To hide prices in India, turn on HOD Media's B2B catalogue mode — a single store-wide toggle that replaces every price and "Add to cart" button with "Price on request" plus a WhatsApp enquiry, so guests and unapproved customers browse but cannot see rates or check out. You then approve individual customers (dealers, wholesalers, resellers); once approved, they log in to see prices and place orders normally.
Why hide prices at all?
Plenty of Indian businesses genuinely should not show public prices. If you sell wholesale to kirana stores, supply dealers and distributors, run a B2B manufacturing catalogue, or quote project-based rates, a public MRP either confuses retail shoppers or hands your margins to competitors. The goal is a clean catalogue that any visitor can browse — product photos, specs, variants, videos — while actual rates and the buy button stay behind an approval gate.
How HOD Media's B2B catalogue mode works
HOD Media handles this with B2B catalogue mode: one store-wide toggle combined with per-customer approval. It is important to be precise about what this is and isn't.
When the toggle is ON, every guest and every customer you have not yet approved sees the catalogue with "Price on request" in place of prices, no "Add to cart" or checkout, and a WhatsApp enquiry button so they can reach you directly. When you approve a specific customer, that person logs in and sees real prices and a working checkout — they buy exactly like a normal storefront shopper.
This is a whole-store setting. It is not per-product, not per-collection, and it does not support mixing a public retail store and a gated wholesale store on the same domain. If your store is in catalogue mode, prices are hidden for everyone except approved customers, across the entire catalogue. If you need both a public retail shop and a private dealer channel, you would run them as separate stores.
Step-by-step: turn on catalogue mode
- Open your store settings in the HOD Media dashboard and find the B2B / catalogue mode section.
- Turn on the store-wide toggle. Prices and buy buttons immediately disappear for guests and unapproved customers, replaced by "Price on request".
- Set your WhatsApp number for enquiries so the "Price on request" button routes buyers straight to your chat.
- Publish your catalogue — add products, variants, specs, and videos so dealers can evaluate items without needing prices on screen.
- Collect customer sign-ups. Dealers register or ask to be added; you can also add them from manual/counter orders.
- Approve individual customers you want to sell to. Approved customers log in and instantly see prices plus a live checkout.
- Fulfil the order using your normal HOD Media flow — shipping, invoice, and tracking all work the same for approved buyers.
What approved dealers can do
Once approved, a dealer's experience is a full storefront. They see your rates, add quantities, and pay online via Razorpay or Cashfree or choose Cash on Delivery. HOD Media lets you connect your own Razorpay or Cashfree keys, so money settles directly into your account and the platform takes no cut of each sale. (PayU and international gateways like Stripe are being added.)
Features that pair well with B2B
Catalogue mode fits neatly with the rest of HOD Media, which matters for wholesale in India:
- GST-style invoices — issue proper tax invoices your dealers can claim input credit against.
- COD partial-advance — collect part of the amount online to cut RTO losses on bigger dealer orders.
- Multi-courier shipping with live rates, labels, weight-based rates and free-shipping thresholds — useful for bulk parcels going to different pin codes.
- Combo / BXGY and automatic discounts — build slab or bundle pricing for approved buyers.
- WhatsApp order and shipping updates — keep dealers informed the way most Indian B2B buyers actually communicate.
- Hindi + English storefront, product and variant video, barcode scanner, manual/counter orders, custom domain, and Meta Pixel + CAPI.
Quick comparison: modes on one store
| Visitor type | Sees prices? | Can check out? | What they see instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guest (not logged in) | No | No | "Price on request" + WhatsApp enquiry |
| Registered but not approved | No | No | "Price on request" + WhatsApp enquiry |
| Approved customer | Yes | Yes (Razorpay / COD) | Full prices and checkout |
Is this right for your store?
Choose catalogue mode if you want a browsable catalogue with gated pricing and you're comfortable approving buyers one by one. If instead you want everyone to buy at public prices, leave the toggle off and run a normal retail storefront. Because the setting is store-wide, decide up front which model your store serves.
Ready to set up wholesale pricing the right way? Explore B2B catalogue mode and the full India-first toolkit on HOD Media.
Does hiding prices stop guests from browsing my products?
No. In B2B catalogue mode guests and unapproved customers can still browse your full catalogue — photos, specs, variants and videos. Only the prices and the buy/checkout buttons are hidden, replaced by a 'Price on request' label and a WhatsApp enquiry button.
Can I hide prices on just some products or one collection?
No. HOD Media's B2B mode is a store-wide toggle, not per-product or per-collection. When it's on, prices are hidden across the whole catalogue for everyone except approved customers. It also does not mix public retail and gated wholesale on the same store — for that you would run two separate stores.
How do approved dealers pay for orders?
Once you approve a customer, they log in, see prices, and check out like a normal shopper. Payment is online via your own Razorpay or Cashfree keys — so money settles directly to you and the platform takes no cut — or Cash on Delivery. PayU and international gateways like Stripe are being added.
Do I still get GST invoices and shipping for B2B orders?
Yes. Approved dealer orders use the same HOD Media flow as retail: GST-style tax invoices, multi-courier shipping with live rates, labels and weight-based pricing, plus WhatsApp order and shipping updates. You can also collect a COD partial-advance to reduce RTO on large orders.
How does a customer get approved to see prices?
Customers register on your store (or you add them, including from manual/counter orders), then you approve individual accounts from the dashboard. As soon as an account is approved, that customer sees real prices and a working checkout on their next login.