How do I sell on WhatsApp in Kenya?
Updated
Start with the free WhatsApp Business app: a profile, a catalogue, quick replies and labels will carry a small shop a long way. Move to the WhatsApp Business Platform — the API — when one phone can no longer keep up, when several staff need to answer, or when you want orders and M-Pesa payment handled without someone typing every reply.
The app and the platform are two different products
Both come from Meta and both show your business name to the customer. They differ in who can answer and what can be automated.
| WhatsApp Business app | WhatsApp Business Platform (API) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Charged by Meta per message, by message type |
| Who answers | One phone, plus linked devices | Any number of staff, from one inbox |
| Automation | Greeting, away message, quick replies | Full: menus, order flows, payment prompts |
| Catalogue | Yes | Yes, and it can sync with your stock |
| Set-up | Install and go | Needs a verified Meta business account and a developer |
Meta sets and revises the platform’s per-message prices; check its current rate card for Kenya before budgeting.
Setting up the app properly
Most of what makes a WhatsApp shop work is set up once and costs nothing.
- Use a number that belongs to the business, not to a person who might leave.
- Fill the profile: hours, location, website, a description in one plain sentence.
- Build the catalogue with a photograph, a price and a one-line description for every item. A price in the catalogue answers the question most chats start with.
- Write quick replies for the five questions you answer every day — price, delivery, location, payment, hours.
- Label chats by stage — new order, paid, delivered — so nothing is forgotten.
Taking payment in the chat
The simplest way is a till or paybill number in a quick reply. The better way is an M-Pesa STK Push sent from the order itself: the customer confirms the order in the chat and gets the payment prompt on the same phone, and the order is marked paid when Safaricom confirms it.
When to move to the platform
The signs are easy to recognise: customers wait hours for a reply, two staff are passing one phone around, orders are lost in a long chat list, or the same price question is answered fifty times a day. At that point automation answers at 9pm what nobody is awake to answer, and every order lands in one list with its payment status.
Questions people ask
- Is the WhatsApp Business app free in Kenya?
- Yes. The app is free to download and use. The WhatsApp Business Platform, used for automation and shared inboxes, is charged by Meta per message.
- Can I keep my existing WhatsApp number when moving to the API?
- Usually yes. Depending on the number, Meta either moves it onto the platform or lets it stay on the app alongside it, and what happens to the chat history differs between the two. Ask which route your number qualifies for before the move, not on the day.
- Can customers pay with M-Pesa inside WhatsApp?
- The payment itself happens in M-Pesa, but it can be triggered from the chat with an STK Push, so the customer never has to leave the conversation to type a till number.
