WhatsApp has debuted a feature that will make in-app shopping simpler and more efficient: shopping carts. This streamlines the shopping process on the app, allowing you to quickly purchase multiple items from one seller.
Shopping on WhatsApp Just Got More Convenient
WhatsApp is improving the shopping experience for both consumers and sellers on the app. The popular messaging app announced the debut of a shopping cart in a post on the WhatsApp Blog.
Shopping carts now allow you to browse through a seller’s catalog, add multiple items to your cart, and then send the order in one message. WhatsApp notes that this feature “will make it simpler for businesses to keep track of order inquiries, manage requests from customers and close sales.”
Before this, the app had no shopping cart. If you wanted to buy several items from a single seller, you had to send multiple messages to relay your purchases. The addition of the shopping cart consolidates this previously-tedious process.
WhatsApp has been slowly growing the shopping portion of its app. It rolled out product catalogs in November of 2019 and has since made in-app shopping even better.
The platform also announced in-chat shopping in October 2020, and unveiled a dedicated Shopping button in November. These new features may seem insignificant, but they’re turning WhatsApp into a social shopping app.
How to Use the Shopping Cart on WhatsApp
To use the shopping cart feature, all you have to do is head to a business profile, and hit the Shopping icon that’s next to the seller’s name.
This will open the catalog. Once that loads, take a look at the seller’s products and pick the items that you want to buy. From there, tap a product, and then hit Add to Cart.
You can always edit your cart by heading to View Cart, and then tapping Add more to put more items in your cart. WhatsApp also gives you the ability to change the number of items you want to purchase as well.
When you’re happy with the items you’ve picked, you can simply send the entire cart as a message to the seller, and the seller can then process your order.
Social Shopping Continues to Grow
The Facebook family of apps, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook itself, have continued to expand social shopping opportunities. Just like WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook both have dedicated shopping sections.
Whether we like it or not, it seems that social networks are slowly evolving into online shopping centers that double as ways to keep in touch with friends.