- Facebook to make three big additions to WhatsApp
- The company to launch shopping and paying services
- Face announced the news in a short blog post
Facebook has always been a helping hand to bring up small and medium businesses. Particularly those businesses that use the internet to interface with the wider world. Facebook announced its plans to acquire WhatsApp in February 2014.
Since then, with 50M businesses and 175M people messaging them has been the core of the pitch. Now the company is making three big additions to WhatsApp. It is launching shopping and payment features on the app. The new product comes under a specific name.
‘Facebook hosting services to host businesses’ will give you online assets and activity. Facebook said it will finally start to charge companies using WhatsApp for businesses. The company announced the news in a short blog post light on details.
In-Chats Shopping
Companies are already using WhatsApp to show up product information and start discussions related to transactions. QR code is one of the recent additions in that area. In July,the ability to share catalog links in the chat was also added.
Facebook is continuously expanding the ways that businesses can display what they are selling. With the launch of Facebook Shop in August similar features were rolled out on Facebook and Instagram.
The new tactic gives an opportunity to use WhatsApp for both linking through Facebook and other products. You can then purchase the items while staying in the chat. Facebook will be adding a buy button for merchants. It will take you to the WhatsApp chats to complete the purchase.
“We want to make it easier for the businesses to integrate features with their commerce and customer solution. This will help small businesses who have been impacted the most”, it notes.
Facebook Hosting Services
The services will be available in the coming months. The idea is specifically aimed at selling hosting services. It will be beneficial for SMBs who are already using Facebook and WhatsApp messaging. Nowadays all businesses use API as an on-premise or leverage a service provider.
This will help them share more information and save money. It’s an interesting move. The SMB hosting market is fragmented with a number of companies. It includes GoDaddy, Dream Host, HostGator, BlueHost, and many others. Let’s mention that such huge companies serve as an opportunity for these SMBs.
It gives a pretty extensive network of data centers across the globe.”Proving this option will make it easier for SMBs to get started. It will allow them to sell products, quick respondents, and maintain inventory details.
Charging Tiers
Earlier facebook charged for a few services. Now with a mixture of services coming up the company is converting into a pay-to-play scenario. “In the future, we may look at ways to update how we charge businesses. This will relate to how businesses send messages.
It’s free for people to send business messages. We will charge customers for some of the services”, Facebook added.
Doubling Down SMBs
The services came in such a scenario that it shifted the focus of SMBs towards an internet-driven platform. Facebook has also been building more functionality across Facebook and Instagram. Adding more tools to WhatsApp is a natural progression.
WhatsApp Business remains a fairly small product, most popular in India and Brazil. The company is launching more tools. It will potentially drive more businesses to the market.
