WhatsApp Business: the Shopping button arrives

Anticipated at the end of October, one of the most recent WhatsApp Business news for merchants today makes its official worldwide debut: it is the Shopping button that allows customers to make purchases directly from within chats. The timing of the launch is not random, considering the holiday season is almost upon us.

The Shopping button for WhatsApp Business accounts

Appears with the icon highlighted in the screenshot below which reproduces the outline of a shop and takes the place of the one dedicated to the video call (which in any case will not disappear, but will be integrated with that of the voice call). Seeing it, users (and potential customers) will know that the company has a catalog.



Once opened they will be able to select the desired products and complete the order, without never abandon the application.



Below is a video explaining to merchants how they can benefit from the feature.



Official statistics shared by Facebook (who controls the application) speak of over 175 million people who send messages to a WhatsApp Business account every day and more than 40 million monthly views for product catalogs. In recent months, Mark Zuckerberg's group has confirmed its intention to "charge our business customers a fee for some of the services offered". In other words, it will soon start monetizing the use of the service.