Whatsapp Introduces ‘Catalogs’ For Small Businesses

Messaging giant WhatsApp on Thursday rolled out the ‘Catalogs’ feature for WhatsApp Business app that will allow enterprises to showcase photographs of various products that potential customers can browse through.

The new feature—which is being rolled out in countries like India, the US and Indonesia—is intended to make it easier to learn about the products and services businesses offer.

Catalogs are a mobile storefront for businesses to showcase and share their goods so that people can easily browse and discover something they would like to buy, a statement said.

“Previously, businesses had to send product photos one at a time and repeatedly provide information now customers can see their full catalog right within WhatsApp. This makes business owners look more professional and keeps customers engaged in the chat without having to visit a website, it added.

For each item in its catalogue, a business can add information including price, description and product code.

WhatsApp hosts these catalogues to save storage space on the phones of both businesses and their customers, the statement said.

“The catalog feature is available today to businesses using the WhatsApp Business app on both Android and iPhone in Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the UK and the US,” it said adding that it will be rolled out in other parts of the world soon.

The feature had been announced at Facebook’s annual developers’ meet F8 in May this year.