SektorCepte · 2026-10-26
A WhatsApp Business Catalogue for a Small Shop
The catalogue should show what is on the shelf this week, a photo from your shop, and the price you would say at the counter.
A customer looks at the catalogue before they tap the shop name. If a drill you finished in March is still there, the chat opens with a correction. The catalogue is the list you can hand over this week. It does not have to be long on the first day. The name you use at the counter, a photo taken in your own light, and a price you would say out loud are enough. Leave out the carton that is still at the wholesaler. Add the line when the box is on the shelf. A short list does not tire anyone. A list of things you do not have spends the trust in the first sentence. This year, as before, most orders are decided in that small window before anyone crosses the street.
1. Split collections the way the counter already works
The collection name should be a word the customer already uses. In a hardware shop, one collection can hold what a person takes today: a lock, a bulb, a tube of silicone. A second collection can hold work you measure first: a profile cut to length, a rail that has to be fitted. Six collections with two items each make people tap more and learn less. While the list is short, two or three headings are enough. If you also take repairs, keep the labour line away from the goods. A person looking for a hinge should not have to scroll through a description of filling holes. When a collection grows, split it by the job people ask for, rather than by the brand on the box. A list you cannot finish scrolling on a Friday evening will carry a wrong price into the next week. Review the headings once a year and retire a word nobody asks for anymore.
2. Take the photo from your own shelf
Daylight or the shop lamp is enough. One item in each frame. Crop the clutter if it hides the thing you sell. A wholesaler photo on a white background makes it look as if you do not hold the item. If you do use a supplier picture, write on the line that the item comes in on order. A frame from your shelf is the clearer choice. If the front of the pack cannot be read, move closer and put the size in one sentence. A yellow night photo looks dirty on a morning screen. Shoot at the same hour and the same shelf when you can, so the list looks like one shop. Leaving last season's mannequin in the catalogue ages the window as well. If your hands are in the work, let them stay in the frame. A person looking for a workshop is not looking for studio light.
3. The price should be the price at the counter
If the number in the catalogue and the number at the till differ, the argument starts in the first message. When size changes the price, say which size that number belongs to, on the same line. Keep the description to one sentence: what it is, and who needs it. A long paragraph is not read on a phone. Finish, in that same sentence, whether tax is included and whether a bag is separate. If there is a reduced price, the last day sits on that line too. A reduction with no end date is still treated as a reduction next month. Change the catalogue on the day you change the shelf. Two prices are a bargain you did not open. Where the price depends on a measurement, show a starting figure and say the firm number comes after the measure. The figure on the screen then stays inside what you can promise.
4. Let the greeting point at the catalogue
People do not hunt for the catalogue on their own. You show the way. Keep the greeting short: the catalogue sits under the shop name, and they can look and then write. Leave the price question there, so you are not typing the same answer many times a day. After you update the catalogue, the new price does not travel into old chats. A new person sees the current list. If a price was already agreed in an old chat, keep that agreement. Do not apply a new figure in silence. The profile photo and the catalogue cover should show the same shop. If one is the sign, the other is the sign. A person should not think they have found two businesses. Add the hours when you actually read messages. Someone who writes at night can expect a morning reply. They should not expect a night delivery.
5. Go through it once a week
Pick a quiet hour and scroll the list from top to bottom. Hide what has left the shelf. Add the carton that arrived, on the day it arrived. Close a collection when the season closes. A catalogue is a poor archive. An archive produces the wrong order. The check is three questions: is it here, is the price right, is the photo from this shop. Fix any line that cannot take a yes, on the same day. The round is short, and it removes an argument from the next morning. If an apprentice keeps the list, look once yourself. The customer sees your name. Bring the round forward before a holiday. A question that arrives while you are shut will hit a line you never corrected.
Near closing on Friday, open the phone and move through the collections. Hide the screw that is finished, add the washer that came in, and write today's figure next to the price that changed. The first message the next morning can start with a clear line. Ten minutes here takes a weight off the explanations you would otherwise type all day.