How to Create a WhatsApp Catalog: Add Products Step by Step

Your customer writes "What products do you have?" and you send photos, prices and descriptions one by one. Sound familiar? A WhatsApp catalog shortens exactly this exchange: your products sit inside the chat, in an organized showcase. Below we cover how to set up the catalog, how to add products and, as you grow, how the bot works with the catalog in Chatopya.

What is a WhatsApp catalog and what is it for?

A catalog is a list of products and services tied to your business profile on WhatsApp. Customers browse your products without leaving the chat and see the images and details. WhatsApp hosts these catalogs on its side, so product images don't take up space on your phone.

The practical side is this: instead of answering the same question ten times, you send a single link or product card. You look more organized, and the customer finds what they're after faster.

You'll meet the catalog in two different places: in the free WhatsApp Business app on your phone, and on the WhatsApp Business API side used by high-volume businesses. The setup logic is different, so we cover the two separately.

How do you create a catalog in the WhatsApp Business app?

If you use the app, you can open a catalog in a few minutes. Menu names may differ slightly by version and phone language, but the flow is generally like this:

1. Open the WhatsApp Business app and make sure your business profile is filled in (business name, category, description).
2. From the app's business tools section, go to Catalog.
3. Create your first product with the step for adding a new product or service.
4. Upload the product images, enter the name and other details, and save.
5. Repeat the same steps for other products; as the number of products grows, group them into collections.

Products in the catalog must follow the WhatsApp Commerce Policies. If you sell in a prohibited or restricted category, look at these policies before adding products.

Which fields do you fill in when adding a product?

According to WhatsApp's own help page, every catalog product has a unique title. The rest is optional:

• Price: It gives the customer clear information, but isn't required.
• Description: Put the most commonly asked details here, such as size, color and material.
• Website link: It points to the product's page on your site.
• Product code: If you match it to your stock code, order tracking gets easier.

How do you organize the catalog with collections?

Once you pass twenty or thirty products, a flat list starts to look cluttered. Collections help here. You can create groups like "New season," "Women" and "Accessories" and gather products under them. Customers go straight to the group they're interested in instead of scrolling on and on.

How do you share the catalog with customers?

A catalog you've set up doesn't sell by itself. You need to put it in front of the customer. WhatsApp offers a few ways to do this:

• Catalog link: You can put the link to the catalog or to a single product in your Instagram bio, on your site or in an email.
• Sharing a product in the chat: When a customer asks about a product, you send the product card straight into the chat.
• Sharing to Status: You can share products from the catalog on your status.
• Cart: Customers can add several products to a cart and send it to you as an order.

In short, the catalog turns the customer's "Can you send me a photo?" message into an "I want this" message.

How does the catalog work if you use the WhatsApp Business API?

On the API side, things change a bit. Here the catalog is a structured product inventory you upload to Meta, linked to your WhatsApp Business account (WABA). According to Meta's developer documentation, you upload products through Meta Commerce Manager or the Commerce API. Each product carries information such as name, description, price, image and stock status.

The API has different message formats for sharing products. A catalog message that introduces the whole catalog, a message that highlights a single product and a multi-product message that shows up to 30 products split into sections are some of them. WhatsApp automatically reviews products added to the linked catalog, and products that go against policy are flagged.

If you're wondering how the API differs from the app, we explained it in detail in What Is the WhatsApp Business API.

How does the bot list products from the catalog in Chatopya?

As message volume grows, sharing the catalog by hand gets tiring too. In Chatopya, the bot takes on much of this work. When a customer asks about a category, the bot lists the products in that category and, if needed, sends a PDF catalog or a product image. When the customer decides, it directs them to the order and payment link.

The bot doesn't just produce lists. The AI first asks about the customer's need, then recommends a suitable product from the catalog. It tolerates typos and abbreviations and remembers the earlier part of the conversation. The customer doesn't have to explain their problem from the start.

All the details on the bot and AI side are on our WhatsApp customer service and AI chatbot page. Let us also say up front that AI usage runs on credits and that the AI Bot credit package is sold separately.

How do stock and prices stay current?

In Chatopya, the stock and price information the bot uses is updated from your connected store at regular intervals. So when you change a price in your store, you don't need to enter it in the dashboard again; at the next update, the bot works with the new information.

Let's be honest here. The update isn't instant. It happens at set intervals. In flash sales, or campaigns where stock runs out within minutes, a short gap can appear. In such periods, make sure the stock check at the payment step is done in your store.

To connect your Trendyol, Hepsiburada and Shopify store, see our marketplace integration page. This integration isn't in the Starter package and is included in the others.

Which mistakes do we see most often when preparing a catalog?

Working with many businesses, we see the same few mistakes repeated again and again:

• Blurry or cluttered images: The product photo should be sharp, on a plain background. The customer should understand what they're buying in the first frame.
• Similar-looking titles: Instead of "T-shirt 1, T-shirt 2," put the color and model in the title. Both the bot and the customer find the right product more easily.
• Empty descriptions: Size, measurements, material, delivery time. Put whatever is asked most in the description.
• A catalog that isn't updated: Keeping a product that's no longer for sale in the catalog disappoints customers.
• A long list without collections: Showing hundreds of products in one list tires the customer out.

Don't set up the catalog once and forget it. Even a short check once a month changes a lot.

Frequently asked questions