Regardless of your nature and field of business, your customers are likely to be on WhatsApp. This is why many businesses are now implementing WhatsApp marketing into their strategies.
While larger enterprises use WhatsApp to communicate denmark mobile phone number list with their customers and reinforce the effectiveness of their customer support capabilities, there are some businesses (primarily micro to small-sized enterprises) that completely run their online stores via WhatsApp. Those are known as WhatsApp shops. To benefit sellers, Meta has launched the WhatsApp catalog feature.
In this article, we will explain everything you need to know about the WhatsApp catalog feature, and how you can add your store products to it for a more complete and streamlined customer experience.
What is a WhatsApp Catalog?
Whenever you visit a store or an online website (eCommerce store), you will receive or be given a paper-based or digital document that lists the products the store has for you to buy, which is a product catalog. Without a catalog, you as a customer would not know what all are available for sale.
So, for any seller, having a catalog is a must. Now, since we have moved to digital stores and shops, catalogs too have been made digital. Online sellers that have the funds and requirements to maintain a website or smartphone app do so. Customers can either log in to their website and/or download their app, browse the collections, and make a purchase.
But, Meta understands that there are numerous micro, small, and sometimes, even medium-sized businesses that do not have a platform to sell their products.
Those firms either do not have the scale of business needed to justify building an app or a website, or they do not have the funds to build and maintain those platforms. For cases such as this, Meta has launched the WhatsApp catalog.
The WhatsApp Catalog is a feature that enables WhatsApp Business users to create a catalog or a list of products their store sells. Customers can browse the catalog and select the products and/or services they wish to buy.
They can then forward the shopping cart (the list of products and/or services they have chosen) to the seller via a message. Note that this feature is only available in WhatsApp Business; the non-commercial variant does not have it.
Later on, we will also discuss how you can enable and implement the WhatsApp catalog for WhatsApp Business API or WhatsApp API – Meta’s enterprise variant for companies that need advanced functionality to handle larger businesses.
What does a WhatsApp catalog include?
A WhatsApp catalog includes –
Products and/or services list – as per Meta, up to 500 entries can be added per WhatsApp Business account
Business name and description – this information is automatically copied from your WhatsApp Business profile
Each product or service on the list includes a total of five fields that you can fill –
Image – you can add a picture of the product; a total of 10 photos may be added per product. Photos uploaded are reviewed by Meta to examine whether they meet their terms and conditions.
Product or service name – here you can list the product name or the service; if it is a product, you can also list the model number if applicable.
Price – in some countries, WhatsApp allows you to mention the price of the product or service; however, this field is optional, so you can leave it blank in case your offering has variable pricing.
Country of origin – if your WhatsApp store sells imported goods, you may list the country of origin here. You may leave it blank if it is not applicable to your business, or simply input the country you are based out of, if your products are local.
Description – here, you can list the benefits of the product or service that your buyers will enjoy from purchasing it.
Link – in case you have an online website or e-commerce store, you may link the URL of the said product or service here.
Code – if you have inventory managers and/or have a product or service code, you can specify the same here
What are the Benefits of WhatsApp Catalogs?
As a business owner, you can enjoy several benefits by creating and maintaining WhatsApp catalogs for your WhatsApp store products, such as –
Free to use – WhatsApp catalog or WhatsApp Business catalog is completely free to create and use indefinitely
Increased convenience – customers can simply browse your catalog and add their preferred products and/or services to the cart and forward you the list instead of waiting for you to manually send them product pictures
Time-saving – even if you have an e-commerce store, you can save your customers’ time by including a WhatsApp catalog on your WhatsApp Business profile; this saves them the hassle of navigating to your site to browse and/or purchase.
What are the Disadvantages of WhatsApp Catalogs?
While WhatsApp catalogs are helpful tools to any business owner’s toolkit, they have some disadvantages, such as –
The WhatsApp catalog can only list a total of 500 products and/or services maximum
Automatic adding of products and/or services isn’t possible yet; manually adding a huge number of products may take a significant amount of time
How to Create a WhatsApp Catalog?
Whether you are selling only via a WhatsApp store or are just using WhatsApp to supplement your website and/or app, creating a WhatsApp catalog is essential. You can create a WhatsApp catalog as a WhatsApp Business user on three platforms, including Android, iOS, and Web/Desktop clients. This section elaborates the process step-by-step for all three cases.
Creating a WhatsApp Catalog on Android
Follow the steps below to create a WhatsApp catalog for your WhatsApp Business account.
Navigate to the three dots on WhatsApp Business
Tap on ‘Business Tools’ and then ‘Catalogue’ or ‘Catalog’
You will now be directed to the Catalogue Manager where you can see your WhatsApp Business profile picture at the top, followed by a blank list where you can add new items.
Tap on ‘Add new item’. If this is the first time you are adding products to your WhatsApp catalog, you may also need to add your business details. The image here is an example and the information shown is only for illustration purposes.
Fill in the following details:
Legal Name of Business – as per your proof of identity (such as company registration documents)
Business Type – whether it is a sole proprietorship, a limited liability partnership, or another form of business
Business Address – the business address must match your registered documents
Customer Care Information – you need to add at least one phone number (either mobile or landline) and an email address. If you do not have a dedicated customer care officer, simply add your own phone number and email address.
Grievance Officer Information – similar to the customer care information; however here what you need to do is also add a name for the grievance officer. Just add your own details if you do not have a grievance officer or anyone else who handles customers’ grievances.
Now, you will be taken to the WhatsApp Catalog Manager again, and tap on ‘Add new item’ once more.
Fill the item fields as appropriate. As for the ‘Country of Origin’, you can choose ‘Not applicable’ if you are not selling a physical good. However, if you do choose the country of origin, you need to include the importer information.
