Purchases through the Facebook messaging application are getting closer. WhatsApp announces the launch of its purchase button for business accounts.
“Today, more than 175 million people send messages to a WhatsApp Business account every day, and more than 40 million people see a business catalog per month,” says WhatsApp from its statement.
Placing an order or agreeing on terms of services is already possible from this application. For many businesses, it is a tool to maintain contact with their customers. The possibility of making payments on WhatsApp with this new button reinforces the idea that this application is not only for communicating with friends and family.
This new button currently serves more as quick access to the shops’ catalogs than as a payment system, but this is the ultimate goal. For this, it remains to unify the online payment system in all accounts.
In this video, we can see how the new great bet of WhatsApp works. Customers can consult their doubts about the product they are interested in and confirm the shipping method more directly. Very similar to when we call restaurants or stores while we see the catalog on the web.
Online shopping is increasingly important to sustain a business that is drowning with new sanitary measures. This is reinforcing the business of large e-commerce companies, which WhatsApp wants to join.
With this system, small businesses such as bookstores or clothing stores can have a direct way of selling to their most frequent customers. They can do this without the need to maintain an elaborate website. For this, it is only necessary for each business to activate a WhatsApp Business account. They should also update their client catalog.