Facebook adds shopping carts to WhatsApp much to the delight of small businesses
Facebook has added the shopping carts feature to WhatsApp at the perfect moment. With Christmas nearing and as the holiday purchase is in full swing, the feature will enable customers get a better and more convenient shopping experience on WhatsApp. The texting platform has increasingly come to be used by small businesses to chat and engage with customers better and offer them a special experience.
Facebook announced on 8th December that “with more and more shopping happening through chats, we want to make buying and selling even easier.” The company acquired Whatsapp in 2014 and Whatsapp has ever since operated on a Freemium model. The main source of revenue for the app is through the paid-for version of the app specially for businesses.
As of July 2020, Whatsapp has recorded over 50 million business account subscriptions and the new carts feature is expected to raise this figure.
It’s really simple for customers to access the carts feature. All you have to do is visit the business profile of the particular company and browse the available catalogue. Once you have selected the desired items, click on “add to cart” and the items will be added. In case of a doubt about a product, customers can also click on “message business” to chat with the company. Updated carts can also be sent with multiple items in a single message session.
“With carts, people can browse a catalog, select multiple products, and send the order as one message to the business. This will make it simpler for businesses to keep track of order inquiries, manage requests from customers, and close sales” says Facebook.