WhatsApp has launched a catalogue feature which will allow businesses to create a ‘mobile storefront’.
Parent company Facebook is looking to monetise the phenomenally popular messaging app it bought for $19 billion in 2014.
WhatsApp has 1.5 billion users while there are five million companies on free service WhatsApp Business, which allows firms to create a profile which they can share with customers.
With ‘Catalog’, they will now also be able to share a photo, price, description and link. Customers will not be able to directly buy products within the app, unlike the shopping feature on another Facebook company Instagram.
The new feature is now available for users in Britain, the US, Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia and Mexico, while it will be rolled out around the world in the coming weeks.
WhatsApp business will be one of many topics of conversation at BusinessCloud’s ‘Insights 2020: eCommerce’ conference on the morning of Wednesday 13th November in Manchester.
There are also more than 100 businesses using a fledgling paid product version of WhatsApp, where they are charged for sending marketing and customer service messages.