Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Digital Transformation
    Marketing Operations
    Data
    Customer & Digital Experience
    Performance Marketing
    Marketing Management
    Special Reports
    All Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Performance Marketing » WhatsApp future vision: ‘Private commerce’ and payments

WhatsApp future vision: ‘Private commerce’ and payments

Facebook introduces Business Catalog for WhatsApp to showcase products.

Greg Sterling on April 30, 2019 at 5:29 pm | Reading time: 3 minutes

Today at Facebook’s F8 developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a series of announcements tied to the company’s future vision of more privacy channels for users. He also announced a significant redesign of the Facebook site and app.

WhatsApp Product Catalog. As part of a broader discussion of private messaging, Zuckerberg introduced the WhatsApp Business Catalog. This will be a way for small businesses to showcase products to users interacting with them on WhatsApp. A screenshot was leaked online not quite a year ago that pointed to such an offering.

Facebook has been building out business-friendly features in WhatsApp, including the coming introduction of ads. Launched in early 2018, WhatsApp business is primarily directed toward small business owners.

Businesses will be able to upload images and descriptions of products, though there were few details beyond the announcement itself. Conspicuously absent was any discussion of whether those products might be sold directly through the app.

Instagram expanded shoppable posts to more businesses today. There’s also Instagram in-app checkout with a limited group of brands for now. Accordingly, I would expect similar developments for WhatsApp.

Global payments platform. Zuckerberg also sees WhatsApp as a global payments platform (like Venmo or its owner PayPal). The company not long ago introduced WhatsApp Pay in India and Facebook says about a million people are currently using it.

The combination of products and payments on WhatsApp points to its future as a global “private commerce” platform. Zuckerberg called out small business use cases in particular. “It’s important for all the small businesses out there that don’t have a web presence,” he said. This describes much of the developing world, where WhatsApp is heavily penetrated.

Zuckerberg also believes that private messaging/social communication will become a “primary way” that businesses interact with customers going forward. However, it has yet to materialize on Facebook Messenger.

Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for roughly $19 billion in cash and stock. Citing differences with Zuckerberg, both WhatsApp co-founders have now departed the company.

Why it matters. WhatsApp claims about 1.5 billion users globally – a third of which use the app daily. Ads are coming this year. But it’s also clear that Facebook sees a significant commerce opportunity for the platform, which it may emphasize equally.

One interesting question is whether all of Facebook’s apps and platforms will share capabilities and feature parity and simply be positioned for different audiences. That seems to be where it’s going, with ads, commerce and cross-app communication coming to all of Facebook’s messaging platforms.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    Only 38% of marketers very confident in their customer data and analytics systems
    Does your email copy persuade or sell?
    The latest jobs in martech
    74% of B2B marketers expect budgets to increase next year
    How Cherry Bombe uses email to make customers smile

About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Performance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The MarTech Conference logo.

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Training Now: Master Classes

Start Discovering Now: Spring



The SMX Conference logo.

Start Training Now:: SMX Advanced

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes

Webinars

SEO Recon: The What, Why, and How for Building Amazing Links

Unlock the Cutting-Edge Potential of QR Codes

Why Finding the Right Platform is the Key to Winning in Email Marketing

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise Marketing Performance Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Account-Based Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
Featured White Paper

The Definitive Buyer’s Guide to Collaborative Work Management for Marketers

See More Whitepapers
Search Our Site

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.