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We are building a e-retail bot on WhatsApp platform. I would like to understand if there is a possibility to integrate the Whatsapp Business Api with the product catalog option they provide in the WhatsApp for Business App.


WhatsApp Business API - https://www.whatsapp.com/business/api/?lang=en

WhatsApp for Business - https://www.whatsapp.com/business


The flow that I am looking for is

  1. We will list all the products available on the WhatsApp for Business App
  2. Build a conversation bot which uses WhatsApp Business API
  3. Using API from WhatsApp Business API, open a product catalog or send a message with a call to button which will open product description or cart.

Is this something that is possible?

Pavan Andhukuri
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1 Answers1

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Short answer, not right now.

Catalog is not available for WhatsApp Business API.

However, it's been announced on the last F8 that they are working on that.

Small Update Dec. 2021:

Catalogs are now available but only for WhatsApp Business API phone numbers. This means that regular WhatsApp Business Catalogs cannot be integrated.

A new FB Catalog must be created and connected to the WABA line via FBM.

A new kind of message is available for the /messages endpoint and the CoreApp version needs to be upgraded to the latest.

Diego
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  • it's still not possible to access the items from a catalog created using the WhatsApp Business App right? – Andres Sep 29 '22 at 12:56
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    @Andres Still not possible. Only available for WhatsApp Business API. Recent updates were all aimed at WhatsApp Business API so don't expect to have this available any time soon for regular WhatsApp Business. – Diego Oct 04 '22 at 19:44
  • They announced: business users are no longer able to display their Shops storefront on the WhatsApp Business app. Moving forward, the catalog tool on the WhatsApp Business app will be our default commerce tool. So I guess there is no API to access the catalog anymore as it's not liked with Facebook Business anymore... did I get it right? – Andres Oct 05 '22 at 20:57
  • Yup. All WhatsApp APIs are exclusive to WA Business API accounts and they have no connection whatsoever with the regular WhatsApp Business shop. So yeah, one alternative is to migrate your account but it comes with a monetary cost and you need a BSP to do so. If you migrate your account you will have access to the Meta Catalog and exclusive whatsapp feature for presenting those products using the API. – Diego Oct 06 '22 at 12:37