What you need to know
- WhatsApp now has a new in-app shopping feature.
- The company has added a new shopping button at the top of some chats.
- Thie announcement is light on detail, but it is likely to be in countries where WhatsApp payments are being tested.
WhatsApp is taking another step into the e-commerce market with a new Shopping button that appears in select chats.
"We're making shopping on WhatsApp even easier. Now you can easily discover something you'd like to buy from your favourite business by tapping on the new shopping button at the top of chats," the company shared on Twitter.
You'll need to be messaging a business on WhatsApp to see this new button, and Facebook's new video shows off how you'll be able to place orders in the app.
It's not available everywhere, but it's likely that the company will be rolling it out in places like India and Brazil where it is either testing or has rolled out WhatsApp payments.
Facebook has made a push into e-commerce recently. It's not just WhatsApp, apps like Instagram and Facebook proper are being retooled into virtual malls for customers to browse through. The company touted its Shops program that would let businesses list their wares on either or both platform, it's also enabled support messages through WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct. It seems that while WhatsApp had been spared the brunt of this for some time, Facebook is working on bringing it in line with its broader goals.
Facebook's jack-of-all-trades messaging app is the SMS replacement for most of the world. In the past few years, it has become a staging area for transactions between peers and businesses.
