The "Masquerade" Mode: Building a Sales Rep Dashboard Without Expensive ERP Licenses

Introduction

I see it in almost every audit we perform at Redlio Designs. To place an order for a client, a sales rep will call the client, ask for their password (or reset it to Welcome123!), log in to the frontend, and fill the cart.

This isn't just "messy." It is operational negligence.

It destroys your data attribution (who actually placed the order?), it violates privacy standards like the EAA (European Accessibility Act) and GDPR, and it creates a "Shadow IT" workflow that is impossible to scale.

But the alternative seems worse: buying 15 seats for a legacy ERP like NetSuite or Salesforce, costing you $50,000 a year just so a rep can type in a SKU.

There is a third way. It’s called "Masquerade Mode."

In this guide, we are going to dismantle the "Draft Order" myth and show you how to architect a secure, custom Sales Rep Portal directly on Shopify Plus—saving your security compliance and your budget.

The "Draft Order" Trap: Why Native B2B Fails High-Volume Teams

If you ask Shopify Support how a sales rep should place an order, they will point you to the Draft Order interface in the Admin.

For a startup with two employees, this is fine. For a scaling brand doing $10M+ in GMV, relying on Draft Orders is operational suicide. Here is why:

1. The "Catalogue Blindness": The Draft Order admin interface doesn't look like your website. It doesn't show the high-res product images, the "related products" upsells, or the "buy 5 get 1 free" banners. Your rep becomes a data entry clerk, not a salesperson. They can't upsell what they can't see.
2. Logic Failure: Many Shopify Functions (complex bundling, tiered quantity breaks) do not trigger inside the Draft Order admin. They only trigger in the Online Store context.
3. The 200-Line Limit: As of the Winter '26 Edition, Draft Orders still struggle with massive order forms (200+ lines). If your distributors order in bulk, the admin UI will lag or crash.
4. Permission Creep: To let a rep create a draft order, you have to give them access to the Shopify Admin. That means they can see other customers and potentially sensitive analytics. You are over-provisioning access just to get a sale.

The Solution: You don't need a better admin interface. You need a Masquerade Portal—a way for reps to use the frontend of your website, acting as the customer, without knowing the customer's password.

The Architecture: How We Build "Masquerade Mode"

We aren't talking about a hacky iframe or a browser extension. We are talking about a secure, API-driven architecture using Shopify’s B2B Primitives (Companies, Locations, Staff).

1. Identity Management (Who is the Actor?)

First, we stop the password sharing.

• The Rep: Logs in with their own unique staff credentials.
• The Customer: Does not share credentials. They are a passive entity.

We build a Middleware App (typically Remix/Node.js) that sits between your sales team and Shopify.

2. Context Switching (The "Act As" Function)

When the rep logs into the portal, they see a dashboard of only the Companies assigned to them. We use Shopify's Company API to fetch the list of clients linked to that specific rep.

1. The rep clicks "Start Session" for Client A.
2. The application generates a secure session token.
3. It does not log them in as the user. Instead, it initializes the Storefront API with the context of that specific Company Location.

3. The Frontend Experience

This is the magic moment. The rep is now browsing your actual website.

• Pricing is Accurate: Because we passed the Company Location ID to the Storefront API, Shopify automatically renders the correct "Gold Tier" pricing and "Tax Exempt" status.
• Logic Works: All your bundles and validation rules fire perfectly because the system thinks a "user" is browsing.

4. Attribution (The "Commission" Fix)

When the rep clicks checkout, we don't just rely on standard fields. We inject Cart Attributes (Custom Attributes) into the order payload:

{

  "attributes": {

    "_sales_rep_id": "REP-005",

    "_sales_rep_name": "John Doe",

    "_order_source": "Masquerade Portal"

  }

}

This ensures that when the order hits your ERP, there is zero ambiguity about who closed the deal.

The Security "Moat": Why CTOs Love This

The biggest objection I hear from CTOs is, "Is this secure? Are we bypassing authentication?"

No. We are strengthening it.

The Audit Log

In the "password sharing" model, if an order is deleted, the logs just show that "The Customer" did it. You have no idea if it was the CEO of the buying company or your junior sales rep.

In the Masquerade Architecture, every action is scoped:

• Actor: Sales Rep (John Doe)
• Action: Created Order #5504
• On Behalf Of: Company XYZ

We build a custom Audit Log within the portal. If a rep changes a shipping address, we timestamp it. This is critical for SOC 2 compliance and prevents disputes when a pallet of goods arrives at the wrong warehouse.

Scope Isolation

Your sales reps should not see your global analytics. They should not see customers assigned to other reps. By building a custom portal, we enforce strict data isolation.

The Economics: "Killing the ERP Tax"

Let’s talk ROI. This is where you sell this project to your CFO.

Feature	The "NetSuite" Way	The "Redlio Masquerade" Way
Strategy	Buy 15 "Full User" licenses	Build a custom portal once
Cost	~$$150 - $300 per user/month	License cost: $0
Annual Cost	~$40,000 - $54,000	**~$500 (Hosting fees)**

You are essentially building a "Headless CRM" on top of Shopify. You get the operational power of an ERP without the licensing fees.

Conclusion

Your sales team is the engine of your B2B growth. If you are forcing them to use a slow, clunky admin interface—or worse, forcing them to steal customer passwords—you are putting sand in your own gears.

A Masquerade Portal is not just a "nice to have." It is infrastructure. It is the difference between a sales team that struggles with data entry and a sales team that closes deals.

Is your sales workflow secure?

At Redlio Designs, we audit B2B architectures for compliance and efficiency. We don't just write code; we build the operational guardrails that let you scale without breaking.

Contact Redlio Designs for a B2B Architecture Audit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Shopify Multipass to log reps in as customers? 

No.Multipass is designed for SSO from an external identity provider to a customer account. Using it for reps implies sharing identity, which ruins your audit trails and violates security protocols.

Does Shopify B2B have a native "Login as Customer" button in 2026? 

As of the Winter '26 Edition, Shopify has not released a native, permission-scoped "Act as User" button for B2B on the storefront. You must build a custom solution using the Storefront API to ensure security and attribution.

How do we track sales rep commissions on Shopify? 

Native attribution is limited. We recommend injecting Cart Attributes (_rep_id) via a custom portal for 100% accuracy. This data flows into Shopify and can be exported to your payroll system or ERP.

Is "Masquerade Mode" GDPR compliant? 

Yes, if built correctly. You must ensure that the rep does not see sensitive personal data (like saved credit cards) during the session. Our architecture strictly masks PII (Personally Identifiable Information) from the rep's view.