Whatsapp Business Catalogue

With its new version, on the market since 2018, the number one of the online messaging apps allows small business owners to stay in direct contact with their customers. Perhaps you didn’t know that, among the various features of this app is the ability to present and sell your products and services directly from the chat.
We’re talking about the Product Catalog, the new Whatsapp Business tool that helps small business owners to present their items so that customers can interact with the company in a simple and intuitive way.
Therefore, for small businesses it represents an excellent no-cost investment, a real showcase to share and sell their products and services.
If you have a small business and you think this app is suitable for you, here you will find everything you need to know about!

For those who missed it, Whatsapp Business is an extension of Whatsapp, the renowned app released by Meta. An alternative version for both Android and iPhone devices, free as the original one, designed precisely for small business owners who want to maintain direct contact with their customers.

It simplifies the interaction with customers thanks to various functions that allow you to automate, organize and respond quickly to messages. Some of the features offered are quick replies, product catalogs, automated messages and identifying tags to contacts.

Therefore, we can consider it a real business card for our companies, with all the useful information for our customers.

The Whatsapp team explains the reason why they have created this tool, that is:

to be a mobile showcase for those businesses that want to share their products in a way that people can easily browse and discover the company services.

On the one hand, therefore, the brand acquires more professionalism; on the other hand, the target audience is more engaged through the use of chat without the need to use external platforms to view products or make purchases.

Whatsapp Business would then turn into a small e-commerce within a chat. However, we need to highlight that it cannot yet replace a company’s e-commerce because it is not possible, at the moment, to make payments and purchases directly through chat.

If we haven’t convinced you yet, here below there are 3 good reasons to create a product catalog on Whatsapp Business:

1. It allows you to reduce the distance between people and your business: you can introduce your business and your products or services with a simple message;
2. It helps you to increase the customer retention to your business: you can offer pre- and post-sales support and create a personal relationship with your customers;
3. It allows you to sell your products in a one-to-one conversation.

Moreover, it’s free, easy and intuitive!
If you think the catalog is suitable for you, find out how to create it by continuing to read our guide!

First of all, it’s necessary to download and create a Whatsapp Business account.
So, you have to download the app and customize the profile for your company, including your business name, address, your work area, description, email address and website. This information will then be easily viewed by people watching your profile.
Have you completed all the previous steps? Now let’s move on to our catalog. To create it you can follow this tutorial:

1. First, open the Whatsapp Business app.
   If you are using an Android device, tap More Options, Settings, Business tools, Catalog. Otherwise, if you’re using an iPhone, you can directly tap Settings and follow the same steps.
2. To create a new catalog, tap Add New Item.
3. At this point you have to add the images of your product/service. You can upload up to 10 images.
   Now you have to include the name of the new item and also provide optional details such as price, description, website link and the code of the uploaded product.

As we said before, it’s possible to share the whole catalog or each product with your own customers. To do that, you just have to choose in which way share it:

• By sending it through the app;
• By copying and pasting it where you want;
• By sharing it through email or other apps.

With one of the latest updates, Whatsapp Business also launched the Shopping Cart feature, which allows customers to place orders directly on the chat. The feature has been active in Italy and worldwide since December 2020.
With this function customers can browse all the products of the catalog and add them just by clicking on “Add to cart”. After that, the customer will share the cart with the seller and order the products directly from the chat.

The last advice I can give you is…
Remember to use this tool in the right way, that is, as a communication tool. You should not send advertising messages or marketing communications because you could be banned by the algorithm and end up in spam.
So, customize your messages, nurture the relationship with your customers and let your business grow!