Whatsapp Holds Trial for end-to-end Shopping Feature in Brazil, After Success in Indonesia

WhatsApp, which allows easier access to customer service chats. (photo: dock. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Meta Platforms Inc., on Kamia November 17 stated that their messaging service WhatsApp will introduce a commercial directory and test means of payment in Brazil. WA will focus on business messaging as a potential new source of revenue.

Brazil, one of the app's biggest markets, will be the first country to put the new tool to use outside of a pilot program.

“The main goal here is to make it so you can discover, message, and buy from businesses, all in the same WhatsApp chat,” Chief Executive Meta, Mark Zuckerberg said in a video shown at the WhatsApp summit in Sao Paolo.

According to Meta, the directory will allow users to find companies with business messaging accounts on WhatsApp, allowing easier access to customer service chats.

Users previously needed to add a phone number to their contacts or click on a link on a separate platform to open a chat with a business associate. WA started testing the directory in Sao Paolo last year.

The directory service will already be introduced in Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia and the UK as well via the WhatsApp API, which primarily caters to large businesses.

Partnering with a local company, WhatsApp will also be testing a payment tool in Brazil that will allow in-app transactions with credit or debit cards.

A WhatsApp spokesperson declined to disclose fee arrangements with the payment company.

WhatsApp, the social media giant's largest app in terms of daily users, is piloting an end-to-end shopping model with Indian online grocery service JioMart over the summer.

Apart from JioMart, currently only private payments can be sent via WhatsApp and only in India and Brazil.

Improving business messaging has become a greater urgency this year as the core Meta advertising business has come to a standstill. The company experienced its first annual decline in revenue and last week laid off 11.000 employees.

Despite the popularity of WhatsApp, and its stunning $22 billion acquisition price tag in 2014, it has contributed little to Meta's total revenue to date.