WhatsApp launches new initiative for small businesses to go digital

WhatsApp launches new initiative for small businesses to go digital. The company declared that trained volunteers of Whatsapp Business are providing digital training to businesses one-on-one around building a digital presence on the WhatsApp Business App to help them better manage the incoming leads and queries, build a product/services showcase and market to key audiences using online tools.

The initiative was rolled out in partnership with social media platform Josh Talks

Technology for MSMEs: Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp, which has India’s biggest market, launched SMBSaathi Utsav initiative on Tuesday to help small businesses to get into its WhatsApp Business app for growth. The pilot project launched in Jaipur’s Johri and Bapu Bazaar and has already onboarded over 500 businesses enabling them to leverage the various features of the Business App and promote the ease of doing business, WhatsApp said in a statement. The initiative was rolled out in partnership with social media platform Josh Talks that had raised $3.5 million funding in May this year.

WhatsApp launches new initiative for small businesses to go digital

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Technology has the potential to further boost their business. During the pandemic, we saw several small business owners thriving by using simple platforms such as WhatsApp Business App to stay connected with their customers,” said Abhijit Bose, Head of WhatsApp India.

Businesses in traditional arts and handicrafts, jewellery, fashion & apparel, food & beverage outlets and others are being trained on using the different features of the WhatsApp Business App. Also guided on how they can market their product to the right audiences, WhatsApp said.

The WhatsApp Business app was launched in 2018 for small and medium enterprises. In December 2020, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Facebook Fuel for India 2020 event had said that the WhatsApp Business app has over 50 million users globally, out of that around 15 million are in India.

The company had also added a Shopping Button in its efforts to monetise the business app for the customers to discover business catalogue of small businesses and purchase goods from within the app. WhatsApp had earlier also declared the launch of a feature called Carts to double on its push towards chat-based buying and selling of products between merchants or small businesses and the customers. WhatsApp has over 400 million users overall in India.

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