WhatsApp Business Catalog: showcasing products and services in chat

You get a WhatsApp message from a customer asking what products you carry. You type out a list. They ask for prices. You type those too. They ask if you have photos. By the time you've answered the third follow-up question, five minutes have passed and the customer still has not decided whether to buy. The WhatsApp Business catalog exists to remove this exchange. It lets you build a browsable, visual product listing inside WhatsApp itself, so every conversation starts from a place where the customer has already seen what you offer, what it costs, and what it looks like, before they ask their first question.

This article covers how the catalog works, how to build one that supports selling conversations, how to use it inside active chats, and how to manage it as the brand and team grow.

What is the WhatsApp Business catalog and how does it work?

The difference between a catalog and a product link

The WhatsApp Business catalog is a product listing hosted directly inside the WhatsApp app, accessible from the brand's profile without leaving the conversation environment. It is not a link to an external website, a PDF price list, or a redirect to an e-commerce store. A contact who views the catalog browses, reads product descriptions, and asks about specific items without opening another app or browser tab. This matters because every step that takes a customer out of WhatsApp creates a point where they can lose interest or get distracted. A catalog that lives inside the conversation keeps the entire pre-sales experience in one place.

Which WhatsApp accounts can use the catalog

The catalog is available to WhatsApp Business app users and to brands using the WhatsApp Business Platform (API) with a compatible catalog integration. The WhatsApp personal app has no catalog feature. For WhatsApp Business app users, the catalog is set up in the app under Settings and is available to any contact who visits the business profile. For API users, the catalog is connected through a business solution provider or a Commerce Manager account, which adds options for automated catalog updates and higher item limits. Availability of specific catalog commerce features, such as in-app ordering and payment, varies by country and is not consistent across all markets.

How customers access and browse the catalog

Contacts can access the catalog from the business profile by tapping the catalog icon that appears when the brand has published items. They can also browse inside an active conversation through the shopping bag icon in the message input area. When a brand shares a specific item from the catalog mid-conversation, the contact sees the item image, name, price, and description as a card they can expand, ask about, or add to a cart. The browsing experience is simple: scroll, tap, read. There is no search function within the catalog for contacts, which affects how the catalog should be structured and how many items it should realistically contain.

The 500-item limit and what counts toward it

WhatsApp Business app accounts can store up to 500 catalog items at any time. Each item counts as one entry regardless of whether it is a product variant, a service, or a single SKU. Variants of the same product, such as a t-shirt in five colors, each count as separate catalog items unless they are listed as a single entry with variants described in the text. For brands with large inventories, this limit requires choices: maintain a curated catalog of the most inquiry-generating items, or use the Business Platform API, which connects to a commercial catalog system with higher limits. The 500-item ceiling rarely affects brands with a focused product range, but it is a real constraint for multi-category retailers.

How catalog visibility works across regions and devices

The catalog is visible to all contacts who can view the business profile, regardless of their location. Commerce features built on top of the catalog, such as the ability to add items to a cart and send an order, are only available in certain countries where WhatsApp has enabled in-app commerce. In markets where these features are not active, contacts can view catalog items and inquire about them but cannot complete a transaction inside WhatsApp. Brands serving customers in multiple markets need to account for this: a customer in a market where WhatsApp commerce is live has a different catalog experience from a customer in a market where it is not. The catalog listing is visible everywhere; the transactional layer built on top of it is not.

How do you build a catalog that supports your selling conversations?

Creating your first catalog entry

A catalog entry requires a name, at least one image, and a price or a note that the price varies. Description, product code, and a link to an external page are optional but recommended for any item that generates detailed inquiries. The name should match how customers refer to the product when asking about it, not an internal SKU label or a stock code that means nothing to a new contact. The description field is where you preemptively answer the questions that would otherwise arrive as follow-up messages: what materials the item is made from, what sizes or options are available, what the lead time is for a custom order, and what the price covers. A description that eliminates the most common questions shortens every conversation and speeds up the path to a purchase decision.

Using collections to organize products by theme or purpose

Collections allow catalog items to be grouped into named categories that contacts can browse independently. A brand selling homeware might create collections for kitchen, bedroom, and outdoor. A brand offering services might create collections for consultation packages, ongoing retainers, and one-off projects. Collections appear as tabs or sections when a contact browses the catalog from the profile, which means a contact can go directly to the type of product or service they want rather than scrolling through all available items. For brands with more than twenty or thirty catalog entries, well-named collections are one of the most effective ways to improve the browsing experience without additional content investment. Collection names should reflect how customers think about the range, not how the brand organizes its internal inventory.

Writing catalog entries for services, not just physical products

The catalog is not restricted to physical goods. Service brands, consultancies, agencies, and any brand selling work rather than products can list their services as catalog items with a service name, a description of what is included, and a fixed price or price range. A marketing agency might list a social media audit at a fixed price, a monthly management retainer at a range, and a strategy workshop at a per-session rate. A personal trainer might list a single session, a ten-session package, and an online coaching subscription. Listing services in the catalog gives a potential client immediate clarity on what the brand offers and at what cost, which filters inquiries: the contacts who message after viewing the catalog already know the price range and are reaching out because they want to proceed, not because they are price-checking.

Setting prices and handling variable or custom pricing

Catalog items support a fixed price in the account's currency. For items where price depends on customization, order quantity, or specification, there are two practical options: list a starting price with a note in the description that the final price depends on options, or list the item without a price and use the description to direct the contact to message for a quote. A starting price approach works better for most brands because it sets an anchoring expectation before the conversation begins. A "message for pricing" entry suits bespoke or high-value items where price is genuinely impossible to standardize. Mixing both approaches within a single catalog reflects how real brands price their offering. The catalog does not support tiered pricing, volume discounts, or promotional prices within the item itself, though promotional pricing can be updated temporarily for sale periods.

Managing catalog images for browsing and conversation sharing

Each catalog item supports up to ten images. The first image is the primary one that appears as a thumbnail in the browsing view and in the card that appears when an item is shared in conversation. It should show the product clearly, at sufficient resolution, against a clean background that renders well at small sizes. Additional images can show the product from multiple angles, in different color options, in use, or with size reference objects. Images are compressed on upload, so starting with the highest available resolution produces the best result after compression. A catalog image that looks good at full size but loses clarity at thumbnail scale, which is how most contacts first encounter it, reduces the rate at which contacts tap through to view the full item. Testing how images appear at thumbnail size before finalizing the entry catches this before it affects real conversations.

How does the catalog work inside active WhatsApp conversations?

The shopping icon and in-conversation browsing

Contacts in an active conversation with a brand that has a published catalog see a shopping bag icon next to the message input field. Tapping it opens the catalog from within the conversation without leaving the chat. This in-conversation browsing access is one of the most underused aspects of the catalog feature: many contacts who would not navigate to a business profile to browse will scroll through the catalog when it appears inside an ongoing conversation. It reduces the friction of going from a question to a product reference, which shortens the time between first contact and purchase intent. Brands whose contacts frequently ask "what do you have?" should ensure their catalog is current and well-organized for this entry point specifically.

Sharing specific items from the catalog mid-conversation

The brand can share individual catalog items directly into a chat. When a contact asks about a specific type of product, sharing two or three relevant catalog items provides a visual answer that a text description cannot match. The shared item appears as a card showing the primary image, name, price, and a button to view more details. Sharing specific items rather than directing the contact to browse the full catalog produces higher engagement because it does the work of finding the relevant product for the contact rather than asking them to find it themselves. A contact who asks "do you have bags for under fifty dollars?" benefits more from three specific shared items than from a link to the full catalog where they will need to scroll without a search tool.

How customers add items to a cart and place orders

In markets where WhatsApp in-app commerce is available, contacts can add catalog items to a cart and send the cart as an order message to the brand. The order message arrives as a structured message showing the items, quantities, and total price. The brand then responds with payment instructions, a checkout link, or a confirmation that the order has been received. This cart-and-order flow is not a checkout system: it does not process payment or confirm inventory availability automatically. It is a structured way to receive purchase intent, which the team then fulfills through whatever payment and delivery process they use. For brands where this feature is active, it removes the back-and-forth of a contact typing out a list of items and the brand manually working out the total.

Product messages versus catalog links

There are two ways to reference catalog items in conversations: sharing an item directly from the catalog, which generates an in-conversation card, or sharing a link to the full catalog or to a specific item. Sharing individual items works better for active sales conversations where the brand is guiding the contact toward specific products. Sharing the catalog link works better for follow-up messages or situations where the contact has expressed general interest and wants to browse independently. Broadcast messages, which go to multiple contacts at once, perform better with a catalog link because the contact has not yet indicated what they are looking for and needs to browse before a conversation can begin. Direct item sharing works better when the context already tells you what the contact is likely to want.

Using the catalog in broadcasts and WhatsApp Status

A catalog link or individual item card can be included in broadcast messages sent to contact lists. A new product launch, a seasonal promotion, or a restock notification that includes a catalog item card gives the recipient an immediate visual reference and a direct path from the broadcast message to the item. This removes the step of navigating to the profile to browse, which increases engagement with the catalog in a broadcast context. WhatsApp Status does not support catalog item cards directly, but a status can include text directing contacts to message for the catalog link, or include a call to action that prompts contacts to message, at which point the catalog item can be shared in the resulting conversation. The catalog and Status work best as complementary tools rather than a direct integration.

How do you manage a catalog as the brand and team grow?

Multi-device and multi-agent catalog access

The WhatsApp Business app supports linked devices, which means multiple phones or a computer can access the same WhatsApp Business account at the same time. All linked devices share the same catalog: any changes made from one device are reflected across all linked devices. A team member updating a price or adding a new item from one phone does not create a version where different team members see different catalog states. The catalog is centralized regardless of how many devices are active. For larger operations using the Business Platform API, catalog management is handled through a connected Commerce Manager or a business solution provider dashboard rather than the WhatsApp app itself, which allows bulk updates and API-driven data syncing.

Keeping catalog data accurate across a team

Catalog accuracy needs an owner. Without a named process for updating the catalog when products change, prices adjust, or items go out of stock, the catalog drifts from reality over time. The most common failure is an item that stays in the catalog after it has been discontinued: a contact asks about it, a team member explains it is no longer available, and the contact's confidence in the brand drops. Assigning catalog maintenance to one team member with the authority to make updates prevents this. For teams with frequent product changes, a weekly catalog review against current stock takes under thirty minutes and keeps the catalog reliable. For stable product ranges, a monthly review is enough. The catalog should be treated as a live document, not a setup task completed once and forgotten.

Managing a large catalog through the Business Platform API

The Business Platform API allows catalog data to be managed through a connected product feed or a Commerce Manager account. This is relevant for brands with inventories larger than a few hundred items, frequent price changes, or stock that fluctuates regularly. An API-connected catalog can update when inventory changes in the underlying system, which removes the manual update step. Brands that already use a product management system or e-commerce backend can sync their product data to the WhatsApp catalog without maintaining a separate listing manually. This integration requires technical setup through a business solution provider, but once connected it eliminates the risk of catalog data drifting out of sync with the actual product range.

Syncing catalog data with existing product systems

For brands that manage their product range in an e-commerce system or inventory management tool, maintaining a separate WhatsApp catalog creates a duplication problem: price changes, new items, and stock updates need to be made twice, in the primary system and in WhatsApp. The solution is either a manual sync process, where catalog updates are made as part of the same workflow used to update the primary system, or a technical integration that pushes product data from the primary system to the WhatsApp catalog. Which approach makes sense depends on how frequently the product range changes and how large the catalog is. For a stable range of fifty items, a manual sync is manageable. For a range of several hundred items that changes weekly, an integration is worth the setup investment to avoid the ongoing maintenance burden.

When to move from the app to an API-based catalog setup

The WhatsApp Business app catalog is sufficient for most small and medium brands with a manageable product range and moderate conversation volume. The signs that an API-based catalog setup is worth exploring include a catalog that requires frequent updates falling behind on maintenance, a product range approaching the 500-item limit, a need to automate catalog sharing based on conversation context, or a team handling so many simultaneous conversations that in-app catalog management becomes a bottleneck. The API setup has a higher technical and financial cost, but it removes the manual overhead that slows down the app-based approach at scale. For how the API connects to the broader automation picture, see WhatsApp Business API and automation. For how the catalog connects to WhatsApp's full commerce and shopping features, see WhatsApp Commerce: selling products through chat.

Frequently asked questions