The popular chat application for smartphones known as WhatsApp offers its users a new way to purchase products, thanks to the new shopping button integrated into the application.
WhatsApp has enabled the new shopping button which allows faster access to the store for those company accounts that offer a product catalog.
The new WhatsApp purchase button will replace the voice call button. To find the voice call button again, just press the call icon to select a voice call or a video call.
WhatsApp in figures
WhatsApp, the instant messaging application has already exceeded one billion users. That is, one in seven people in the world use the application every month to stay in touch with family and friends.
According to data published by the application’s creator, Jan Koum, the figures show that they are unrivalled: users share around 42 billion messages and 1.6 billion photos every day, send 250 million videos and, after seven years, have created 1 billion groups.
These figures make WhatsApp the second most popular social network on the planet, surpassed only by the 2.5 billion active users with whom Facebook
The popular instant messaging application WhatsApp has left its rivals far behind. The Chinese application WeChat had around 1.151 million users in the third quarter of 2019, while the Russian Telegram, the other major competitor of WhatsApp, had 365 million users in mid-August 2019.
How to make a purchase on WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is launching this new feature just before the Christmas campaign, which is expected to increase the purchase of products and services from a distance considerably, given the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
With this new functionality, users can easily discover a business’ products by touching the purchase button at the top of chats.
By clicking on it, platform users will be able to view the product catalog. By simply clicking on each product, they will be able to see its prices and features.
The shopping button on WhatsApp is available to businesses using WhatsApp Business. In addition, those companies that want to offer their products in this application should publish the product catalog in advance and be updated.
Users can check the status of the order and payment from the chat. Facebook has mentioned that WhatsApp Business will charge its business customers “for some of the services they offer”, although at the moment they have not explained which ones, when, or how.
The new WhatsApp button is already active, so it will appear on business accounts that have a catalog. However, the products can not yet be purchased directly through the application, so for now it is necessary to send money to the trade by other means than WhatsApp.
Advantage of the purchase button on WhatsApp
The new shopping button on WhatsApp gives more visibility and accessibility to those businesses that choose to use this new functionality.
It should be noted that until now, the user who spoke to the business through WhatsApp had to click on their profile to find out if they were a vendor and see what products they had in the catalog. Thanks to the purchase button, these previous steps are eliminated and also allow the user to buy directly from the application.
On the other hand, with this system small businesses such as bookstores or clothing stores can have a direct way to sell to their most common customers without the need to hold an elaborate website.