What is WhatsApp Shop?
WhatsApp Shop turns your WhatsApp Business number into a place to sell. Customers message your number and a menu bot helps them browse your categories, search for products, build a cart and check on their orders, all inside the chat. When a customer wants a person, your team picks the conversation up from a shared inbox.
Checkout and payment always happen on your own store's website. When the customer is ready, the chat sends a secure link that opens their cart on your store, where they sign in or check out as a guest and pay with your usual payment methods. No card details or payments pass through WhatsApp. The order is recorded as a WhatsApp order, and the chat shows that it was placed.
What you get
Once it is on, the admin menu has a WhatsApp Shop group under Customers:
| Page | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Inbox | Read and answer your customers' chats, take a chat over from the bot and give it back. |
| Contacts | Everyone who messaged your number, their account, what they agreed to receive, and a CSV export. See Contacts, and hiding products from WhatsApp. |
| Quick replies | Saved answers your team inserts in a chat and edits before sending. |
| Metrics | Conversations, team reply times, checkout links, WhatsApp orders and revenue, and this month's WhatsApp spend. |
| WhatsApp Shop settings | What the bot says, when your team takes over, opening hours, the chat button on your store, message costs, how long chats are kept, and the products and categories hidden from WhatsApp. |
| Bot simulator | Chat with your bot the way a customer would. Nothing is sent to WhatsApp. |
You can also show a floating WhatsApp chat button on your store, so shoppers can start a chat from any page.
Before you start
- WhatsApp Shop is off until you switch it on in Settings → Modules. While it is off, nothing changes for your customers.
- It needs WhatsApp Notifications switched on first, connected with the WhatsApp Cloud API (Meta) provider in Settings → Messaging. Gupshup and Twilio keep sending your order updates, but the chat bot and the inbox work only with Meta's Cloud API. See Connect your WhatsApp number.
- The number, the conversations and what Meta charges for them belong to your own Meta account. Meta bills per delivered message; you enter your rates and can set a monthly budget. See Costs, budget and metrics.
Who can use it
Two permissions in your user groups control WhatsApp Shop. Store owners have both.
- View WhatsApp Shop opens the inbox, contacts, quick replies, metrics and settings, and lets a team member read every chat.
- Manage WhatsApp Shop is needed to reply to customers, take chats over, change the settings and quick replies, hide products from WhatsApp, export the contacts and use the bot simulator.