WhatsApp has long been a champion of business and industry. Its dedicated WhatsApp Business utility has been around since 2018 and has created a more integrated ecosystem for small business owners and their clientele. A user on Medium, however, believes much to be desired for WhatsApp Business to truly be an invaluable asset to local small businesses. The user, Saptarshi Samaddar, went as far as to develop a concept for a new user interface and experience on Whatsapp Business that specifically caters to the local mini-markets and corner stores known as Kiranas.
As part of the interview process for a position at Razorpay, candidates were asked to design a shopping experience function for WhatsApp. Drawing inspiration from his surroundings, Samaddar created a proposal for a UX innovation integrated into Meta’s popular messaging platform that enables users to browse, order, and take delivery of various goods from the local Kiranas without leaving their homes. The problem, according to Samaddar, is that one Kirana can stock over 39000 items divided into multiple categories. For WhatsApp Business to work for Kirana owners and clients, he needed to develop a way to display items while working within the constraints of WhatsApp’s design environment.
Samaddar acknowledges that WhatsApp Business does currently have a product list interface but that the list can only contain 30 items. He, therefore, proposes a nested list system wherein the original 30 items become categories, and each category has a nested list of items for users to choose from. He also included numerous dialogue triggers and responses, and buttons that would streamline the process. He notes that people buying from Kiranas typically develop a rapport with the owners, leading the owners to deliver goods to them within reason. The inclusion of delivery options and utilities would, therefore, simply be an evolution of a system already in place.
Even though the interface was developed for Kirana owners specifically, Samaddar has said that in the market research phase, many owners saw no benefit in tailoring the WhatsApp Business experience to their particular business models. However, he also found that many of the owners would like to break into the emerging local e-commerce market but simply don’t know how.
While this is still just a concept, it does provide food for thought about smaller businesses in what Samaddar calls third-tier cities and what their role in the modern e-commerce age could be. WhatsApp certainly has revolutionized communication between small businesses and their clientele; why not revolutionize the entire industry? If you like this piece, why not read our comprehensive guide on how to use WhatsApp to be more productive.
