Blog / E-commerce

WhatsApp catalog: how to create it and turn it into an in-chat shop

There's a precise moment when a business realizes it needs the WhatsApp catalog: the third time it re-photographs the same product to send it in chat to a different customer. The catalog eliminates that work: the products live in the profile, are browsed in chat and sent with a tap, with the photo, price and description always the same and always up to date. Let's see what it is, how to create it — from the app or with the official APIs — and how to connect it to campaigns and selling in chat.

What the WhatsApp catalog is

It's the product showcase integrated into the WhatsApp Business profile: a list of items, each with a photo, name, price, description, link and code. Customers open it from the business's profile or receive individual products in chat as interactive cards; from there they can ask questions or add to the cart and send an order request. It exists in two worlds: on the free WhatsApp Business app, where it's managed from the phone, and on Meta's official APIs, where it lives in Commerce Manager and connects to campaigns, chatbots and an in-chat shop.

Catalog, cart and shop: three words not to confuse

The catalog is the showcase: the list of products with their cards. The cart is the customer's action: they select from the catalog and send you an order request. The in-chat shop is the complete system: catalog plus cart plus payment and confirmations, orchestrated by a platform. You start from the first and arrive at the third, without jumps.

How to create the catalog: the steps

1. From the WhatsApp Business app: the quick way

Open Business tools → Catalog → Add product: you upload the photo, write the name, price, description, website link and item code, and publish. Meta reviews each card before making it visible, checking that it complies with its commerce policies. It's the right route for shops and local businesses: it's done from the phone, in a few minutes, with no setup.

2. With the official APIs: the catalog in Commerce Manager

To use the catalog with a platform and at campaign volumes you need the move to Meta's official APIs. Here the catalog is created in Commerce Manager, Meta's tool that governs the catalogs of Facebook and Instagram too: you add products by hand, or import them with a file or a feed that updates itself from your e-commerce. Then you connect the catalog to your WhatsApp Business account (WABA): from that point the products can be sent in chat from the platform as well.

With SendApp Official you connect the WABA via Meta's Embedded Signup in a few clicks, and from the same panel you manage templates, campaigns and the in-chat shop.

3. Bring the products into the conversations

With the catalog connected, the chat stops being just text: you can send the card of a single product or a selection of several products to choose from, directly in the conversation. The customer browses without leaving WhatsApp, taps, adds to the cart and sends the order request. You reply with availability, shipping and payment: the negotiation that used to take ten messages and three photos now takes two.

Connecting the catalog to campaigns

The catalog makes campaigns shorter and more concrete: instead of describing the products, you show them. It works like this: the campaign — with an approved template — announces the news and invites a reply; when the customer replies the 24-hour window opens, and there the interactive product cards arrive. “The autumn collection has arrived 🍂 Reply NEWS and I'll send you the pieces selected for you here in chat.” Add keyword replies — those who write CATALOG get the best sellers — and segment by past purchases: to each their own products.

From catalog to in-chat shop

The last step turns the showcase into a checkout. The complete flow: the customer builds the cart from the catalog, sends the order request, you reply with the summary and a payment link; once the order is paid, confirmations and shipping updates travel in the same chat. For the customer, no sign-ups, passwords or apps to download: the entire purchase happens in the channel they use every day. For you, an order history per contact remains, which becomes the basis of the next segmented campaigns.

On SendApp Official the catalog connected to the WABA hooks into campaigns, keyword replies and an in-chat shop with carts and payments — and the messages stay billed by Meta at official rates, with no markups. Plans from €19/month, free trial with no card.

Best practices

• Real, square and well-lit photos: in the catalog the thumbnail is almost everything
• Clear, searchable names (“Grey College hoodie – size S/M/L”), not internal codes
• Always up-to-date prices: a wrong price in chat is a promise made in writing
• Remove or flag sold-out items immediately: a cart on an out-of-stock product is a lost customer
• Descriptions that answer the typical questions: materials, sizes, delivery times
• Respect Meta's commerce policies: disallowed categories get cards rejected
• Reply quickly to order requests: the WhatsApp cart is hot, don't let it cool down