In brief: A WhatsApp Business catalogue is a product list inside your WhatsApp Business profile. WhatsApp’s help pages say each item can carry up to 10 images or videos, every item needs a country of origin, and items stay hidden until WhatsApp approves them. Collections group items but cannot be shared as a single link, and carts let customers send an order as a message, after which the business gets in touch about payment.
Most shop owners know this moment. A customer sends “price?” under a product photo, then “which colours?”, then “send more”. Soon you are sending photo after photo from your phone. A WhatsApp Business catalogue puts your photos, names and prices in one place, so customers can look through them on their own.
Key Takeaways
- Each catalogue item can carry up to 10 photos or videos.
- Every item needs a country of origin. Price is optional.
- Customers see an item only after WhatsApp approves it.
- Collections group items but cannot be shared as one link.
- Carts let customers send an order as a message. You then confirm it and agree payment.
What Is a WhatsApp Business Catalogue?
It is a product list that lives inside your WhatsApp Business profile. Customers open it from your chat or your profile and browse photos, names, prices and descriptions without asking you for each one. For a retail shop, it turns a chat full of forwarded pictures into a small shop window inside WhatsApp.
The catalogue works inside the WhatsApp Business app on your phone. You build it from the Tools tab, and every item you add goes through a short review before customers can see it.
It does not replace a website or a marketplace listing. Think of it as the product list you would otherwise keep sending by hand. Shops that sell through conversations get the most from it, such as a saree store on C.G. Road or a home décor shop in Navrangpura.
This guide covers setting the catalogue up and using it well. Want to know who you can message, and what WhatsApp charges per message? Our guide to WhatsApp Business marketing in India covers those rules.
How Do You Set Up a WhatsApp Business Catalogue?
Open the WhatsApp Business app, go to the Tools tab, tap Catalog and then Add new item. Add your photos or videos, type the product name and select the country of origin. Fill in any optional details, such as the price, and tap Save. WhatsApp then reviews the item before customers can see it.
The menu may read Catalog or Catalogue, depending on your version of the app. WhatsApp’s own help pages use both spellings.
Here are the steps from WhatsApp’s catalogue guide, in order:
- From the Tools tab, tap Catalog.
- Tap Add new item, then Add photos and videos.
- Pick images or videos from your gallery, or take new ones with the camera.
- Enter the product or service name.
- Tap Country of origin, choose the country where the item was made and tap Save.
- Add any optional details, then tap Save again.
As a rule of thumb, start with your twenty best sellers before you list the rest. A small catalogue with good photos is far easier to keep right than a big one that is half done.
What Should Each Product Listing Include?
A clear name, good photos and the country of origin, which WhatsApp requires. After that come five optional details: price, sale price, description, website link and a product or service code. The optional fields are where a listing earns the order, so fill in the ones your customers ask about most.
WhatsApp’s guide says “You can upload up to 10 images or videos”. It also says the size limit for a video is 50 MB. WhatsApp makes the video thumbnail for you, and you cannot change it. So make the first second of each video a clean product shot.
Use the name the way your customers say it. “Kanjivaram silk saree, maroon” will be found and understood faster than an internal code. Put the code in the code field, where your staff can match it to stock.
Fill in the price if you can. A listing with no price usually brings back the same “price?” message the catalogue was meant to stop. If prices change often, the description is a good place to say so.
Use the description for the questions you answer every day: sizes, fabric, care, delivery areas and how long delivery takes. Keep it short enough to read on a phone. If you have a website, the website link sends serious buyers to the full product page.
Why Do Some Items Not Show Up?
Because they are still in review, or they were turned down. WhatsApp checks every photo and video against its rules for businesses. Customers can see an item only once it is approved. A turned-down item shows a red exclamation icon next to its photo in your catalogue. If you think that is wrong, you can ask for another review.
WhatsApp’s guide is plain about this: “Catalog items will only be visible to your customers after they have been approved by WhatsApp.” Items that are pending or rejected stay hidden. Once approved, an item is added to the catalogue on its own.
If you think a rejection was wrong, tap the item, tap Request another review, give your reason and tap Continue. If that appeal is also rejected, WhatsApp says you can reply asking for a third review.
Some products cannot be listed at all. The WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy was last updated on 23 September 2026. It bans a list of goods, such as guns, alcohol and tobacco, drugs, and medical and health products. And it says these bans “apply irrespective of the global or local licenses, registrations, or other approvals your business may hold.”
So a valid trade licence does not make an item allowed in the catalogue. Read the full list before you photograph stock that sits near one of these lines.
How Do Collections Help Shoppers Find Things?
They group your items into smaller shelves, such as “Wedding sarees” or “Under the Diwali lights”. A customer with something specific in mind finds it faster. You create a collection from the catalogue menu, name it and pick the items to include. WhatsApp reviews each new collection before customers can see it.
You need items in the catalogue before you can make a collection. Then open Tools, tap Catalog, open the menu and choose Collections. Add a name, select the items and tap Done.
WhatsApp’s collections guide says the review “should take no more than 24 hours.” After approval, you can reorder collections, reorder items inside them, rename them or delete them.
Plan collections the way a customer shops. Group them by occasion, price band or category, depending on how your buyers ask. A gift shop in Prahlad Nagar might sort by occasion before Diwali and by price band after it. That is an illustration, but the habit applies to any shop.
Sharing Your Catalogue Beyond the Chat
A catalogue only works if customers open it. You can share a link to one item or to the whole catalogue. Send it in a chat, put it on your WhatsApp status, or paste it anywhere a link can go. One thing you cannot share is a single collection as its own link.
WhatsApp’s sharing guide lists four ways to share an item. You can send the link in a chat, add it to your status, copy it, or share it by email and other apps. You can add a short message to describe the item before you send it.
Three details are worth knowing before you print a link anywhere:
- Status reaches your contacts. By default, your status updates are shared with all your contacts.
- Links cannot be edited. WhatsApp says the auto-generated link can’t be customized, and a changed link may stop working.
- Collections need a workaround. Share the whole catalogue and point people to the collection, or share its items one by one.
Instagram is often where a retail customer first sees your product. Putting the catalogue link in your bio gives them one tap from a reel to a full listing. Our Instagram promotion team plans that path from post to purchase.
How Do Carts and Orders Work?
Customers tap the shopping button next to your business name, browse the catalogue and add items to a cart. They can change quantities and then send the whole cart to you as a WhatsApp message. The cart starts the order. You confirm it, then talk to the customer about payment and delivery.
WhatsApp’s page about cart says it helps customers order quickly. They can ask about many items at once and order them together. You switch carts on or off in your catalogue settings, under Add to cart.
Two details catch shop owners out. Both you and your customers need the latest version of WhatsApp. And a change to the cart setting can take up to 24 hours to work. So carts may still arrive for a day after you switch it off.
When an order comes in, reply the same day. Send the customer the total, the delivery details and the ways to pay. A cart left with no reply is a customer who was ready to buy and heard nothing back.
Keeping the Catalogue Up to Date
An out-of-date catalogue does more harm than no catalogue at all. Hide items that are out of stock, and delete those you will not sell again. Update prices before a sale starts. If you run a website store or use Meta’s Commerce Manager tool, you may be able to connect that catalogue instead.
Hiding is the useful middle step. You can hide items one at a time or many at once. Hidden items stay in your catalogue manager until the stock comes back.
Some shops already keep a Meta catalogue, a product list built for Facebook and Instagram. WhatsApp lets some of them link it to the app, though it says this may not be open to you yet. Linking it moves your old WhatsApp catalogue out of view. From then on, you edit products in Commerce Manager. WhatsApp’s guide to connecting a Meta catalogue says the changes “should appear in your WhatsApp Business app within 24 hours.”
Treat the catalogue like a shelf that needs a weekly check, just like the shop floor. A wrong price or a sold-out item loses more trust than a missing one. Good photos and short product videos help most, and our guide to product reels that sell shows how to shoot them.
When the catalogue starts carrying more orders than you can handle in chat, it may be time for a proper online store. Our e-commerce development team builds those.
Where to Start
Keep one idea in mind: a small WhatsApp Business catalogue that is always right beats a big one that is often wrong. Customers trust what they can see, so every price and photo has to match what is on your shelf today.
This week, add your twenty best sellers with clear photos, a plain name and a price. Then group them into two or three collections. Finally, put the catalogue link in your Instagram bio and on your WhatsApp status.
If you would like help planning the photos, collections and posts around it, talk to our team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a website to use a WhatsApp catalogue?
No. A website link is one of the optional details on each listing. You can build the whole catalogue in the WhatsApp Business app. Then share it in chats, on your status or in your Instagram bio.
Why can't my customers see my catalogue items?
New items stay hidden until WhatsApp approves them. If an item shows a red exclamation icon, it was rejected. Tap it and choose Request another review, then explain your reason.
How many photos can I add to one product?
Up to 10 images or videos per item, according to WhatsApp’s help page. Each video can be up to 50 MB. WhatsApp creates video thumbnails itself, and you cannot edit them.
Can I share just one collection?
Not as a single link. You can share one item or the whole catalogue. To point someone to a collection, send the catalogue link and tell them which collection to open.
Can customers pay inside the catalogue?
The cart itself only sends you the order as a message. WhatsApp’s cart page says the business then gets in touch to talk about how to pay. So agree payment with the customer once the order arrives.
