Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Whatsapp and its potential to change how we shop

 

Whatsapp and its potential for to change how we shop

Whatsapp has more than two billion active users. However, so far Facebook hasn’t really monetized Whatsapp. The app is primarily a personal communication tool and Facebook doesn’t make money from the private chats. This makes Whatsapp very different from the Wechat app. Wechat was initially launched as a messaging tool similar to Whatsapp. The Wechat app added other functions: a wall to share pictures and article links, mini version of third-party apps for easy access, and payment options to send between friends. Wechat has developed different ways to monetize.

Whatsapp is yet to explore monetization strategies. With its large user base, Whatsapp has great potential to add more functions, including e-commerce. Whatsapp is used outside of the US as a messaging app for small e-commerce sites to communicate with their customers and take orders. Whatsapp already launched payment functions in India and could easily scale the payment function to other regions. It could integrate the current chat function and Venmo.

The app could also add more e-commerce functionalities. The app has a shopping catalog feature which allows business to utilize the platform to reach such a large active daily user base. It is also easy for users to share product links with their friends and family on Whatsapp.

 

References:   

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/technology/why-whatsapp-matters.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-whatsapp-shopping/whatsapp-adds-shopping-catalog-feature-courting-e-commerce-idUSKBN1XI050

 

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