WhatsApp Positions Itself To Be Complete Commerce Platform For Small Businesses

Before we get started, let’s have quick a refresher on a few things...

What is WhatsApp?

For those of you that travel or live internationally (remember, we’re a US based company), you may already know and use this app. WhatsApp Messenger is a widely used communication platform- we’re talking over a billion daily users. It’s a “freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP service that allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media.” It is also owned by Facebook.

Photo courtesy of WhatsApp

What's new with WhatsApp?

The popular communication app now offers catalogs for small businesses. Businesses can share their products and services with customers using WhatsApp’s messaging. Users can now upload links for all their products & services, along with upload images and price lists. Users also have the ability to browse businesses and their offerings through the business’ profile. An example of this would be food delivery services. Users would be able to browse their menu and offerings through the app and even place orders.

Photos courtesy of WhatsApp Blog

Although informal versions of this have been in place for some time now, Facebook is now formally using it in markets including the US, UK, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, India & Indonesia- with plans for more countries in the near future. What else can be expected in the future? While WhatsApp doesn’t currently have the ability to make transactions within the app, we’d expect this function would be rolled out in the future to further it’s progression towards being a complete commerce platform.

Check out how to create a catalog on the Business App here.