Selling on WhatsApp: Catalogues, Carts and Payments

For small catalogues and repeat-order businesses, chat commerce outperforms sending people to a website they have to navigate.

Setting up the catalogue

Create the catalogue in Meta Commerce Manager, attached to the same Business Portfolio as your WABA. Each item needs a title, price, currency, image and unique retail ID. Keep the retail ID identical to your internal SKU — every downstream integration depends on it.

Three ways to show products in chat

1. Single product message — one item with a "View" button; best inside a support conversation.
2. Multi-product message — up to 30 items across sections; ideal for a curated drop or a reorder list.
3. Catalogue message — opens your full catalogue; use sparingly, it converts worse than curation.

The order flow

Customer adds items to a chat cart and sends it. Your platform receives an order payload with retail IDs and quantities. Then:

1. Confirm stock and pincode serviceability automatically.
2. Reply with the total, delivery estimate and a payment link.
3. On payment webhook, send the order confirmation template.
4. Continue with the standard shipping notification sequence.

Payments

Attach a payment link (UPI, cards, netbanking) as a URL button. Keep the link short-lived and unique per order, and reconcile by order ID in the webhook — never trust a client-reported success.

Merchandising rules that work in chat

• Six to ten items per multi-product message, not thirty.
• Lead with bestsellers and reorder items.
• Refresh the curated set weekly so the "new arrivals" template stays honest.
• Sync inventory at least hourly; nothing damages trust like selling an out-of-stock item.

Who this suits

Grocery and kirana, pharmacy refills, B2B distributors with fixed SKU lists, boutiques, and any business where the same customers reorder monthly. If your catalogue runs to thousands of SKUs, use WhatsApp for the top 50 and link out for the rest.