WhatsApp Business Catalog Setup Guide for Pakistan

A WhatsApp catalog turns your chat into a browsable shop window: the buyer scrolls products, taps the one they want and starts a conversation that already mentions that exact item. For a small Pakistani seller it removes the most repetitive part of selling — typing the same price, size and delivery answer twenty times a day.

Setup itself is short. What takes thought is the profile, the photographs and the delivery rules behind each product, because those are the details a buyer judges before they ever reply.

What you need before you start

• The WhatsApp Business app installed on the phone that will handle orders. Catalogs do not exist in the regular WhatsApp app.
• A number you control and intend to keep. Moving a business number later means losing chat history, so avoid borrowing a family member's SIM.
• Business details — trading name, category, address, opening hours, a contact email and, if you have one, a website.
• Product photographs and prices for at least five items. A catalog with two products looks abandoned.
• A delivery policy in writing: charges by city, courier used, and whether cash on delivery is available.
• Two-step verification enabled on the account, because a hijacked business number takes the catalog with it.

Set up your catalog step by step

1. Install WhatsApp Business and register with the business number. If you are moving from the personal app, choose the migrate option during setup rather than starting a second profile.
2. Complete the business profile first. Name, category, description, address, hours and website. The profile is what makes an unfamiliar number look legitimate.
3. Verify the business. The app offers a confirmation step; depending on your account it may ask for a landline, a matching Facebook page or a business document. Complete it before you promote the catalog link.
4. Open Catalog from the business tools menu and add your first item.
5. Enter the product name, price and description. Name first, then the price in PKR, then three or four lines that answer the questions buyers ask before ordering.
6. Upload a square photo. At least 600 by 600 pixels, under 3 MB, plain background, product filling most of the frame.
7. Add the remaining items in the order a buyer would browse: best sellers first, then categories, then clearance.
8. Set delivery and shipping details in the catalog settings, including charges and the areas you serve. If your version of the app does not show these options, put the same information in the business description instead.
9. Copy the catalogue link and test it on a second phone, ideally on mobile data rather than your own Wi-Fi, so you see what a stranger sees.
10. Publish the link in your WhatsApp status, Instagram bio, Facebook page, Google Business Profile, invoices and packaging slip.

What should each product entry contain?

The catalog gives you very little room, which is a feature: it forces you to write like a shopkeeper rather than a copywriter. Fill every field, because an empty field can make an item look broken to a buyer.

Two catalog limitations catch people out. There are no size or colour variants inside one entry, so each variation needs its own item; and the price shown is the price a buyer anchors on, so never publish a placeholder figure you intend to change in the chat.

Why is my catalog not visible to customers?

When a buyer says "I can't see anything", the cause is almost always one of these, in this order:

• Incomplete profile. A missing address, category or description can keep the catalog from displaying properly on the shared link.
• Items with missing fields. An item without a price or photo may not render, which makes the whole catalog look empty.
• Old app version. The buyer needs a reasonably current WhatsApp build; ask them to update from the Play Store or App Store.
• Wrong link. The catalogue link must use the full international number with no plus sign, spaces or leading zero.
• Unverified business. Some accounts show limited catalog features until the business confirmation step is completed.
• Sharing a personal-number link. If the catalog lives on the Business app number, a link to your old personal number will not show it.

How do you share the catalogue?

The catalogue link is the single most useful asset you create here, because it works everywhere a customer might find you. Use it as the website button on your Instagram and Facebook pages, in the Instagram bio, in your email signature, on invoices and on the slip inside every parcel. Print it as a QR code for shop counters, visiting cards and delivery packaging — a buyer who scans it lands in a chat with your products already loaded.

Inside WhatsApp, share it in your status once a week with one specific reason to look: a new arrival, a restock, or a price that changes on Sunday. A catalog shared without a reason gets ignored; a catalog shared with a deadline gets taps.

From catalog to first order

The catalog ends where the conversation begins. A buyer taps an item, WhatsApp opens your chat with a message naming that product, and then you take over. Keep a saved quick reply for the four things every order needs: availability, delivery charge to their city, payment method, and expected delivery date.

For physical goods, most small sellers in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad work with TCS, Leopards, M&P or PostEx, all of which offer cash-on-delivery collection and return handling. Confirm the current COD remittance cycle with your courier before you promise a payout date to yourself. For digital items, the catalog is only the storefront — delivery happens by file link, and the payment and refund rules need to be written into the product description, as covered in the guide to selling digital products in Pakistan.

How does the catalog fit into a wider WhatsApp strategy?

The catalog handles discovery; messages handle persuasion. That split is why a catalog on its own rarely lifts sales — it needs a reason for people to open it. A weekly status update, a broadcast to customers who opted in, and a clear delivery promise do more than adding fifty more products ever will. The WhatsApp marketing guide for Pakistani businesses covers the message side, and growing an opt-in WhatsApp list covers how to get the right people looking at it.

If your catalog is growing past a few hundred items, or you are selling the same stock on a website as well, the manual approach starts to cost more than it saves. At that point a small WooCommerce store that syncs orders with your courier and payment records is the cheaper option, which is the kind of build covered under e-commerce development.

Key takeaways

• Finish and verify the business profile before you share the catalogue link; the profile is what buyers trust.
• Fill every product field, use square photos under 3 MB, and publish real prices instead of "DM for price".
• There are no variants inside one item, so give each size or colour its own entry.
• The catalog is a showcase, not a checkout — keep quick replies ready for stock, delivery, payment and timing.
• Share the link everywhere with a specific reason and a deadline, not as a bare link.

Frequently Asked Questions