Chat-based e-commerce key priority for WhatsApp: Head of Meta India

Conversational commerce is essentially chat-assisted shopping where online shoppers use chat platforms such as WhatsApp or Instagram to interact and purchase goods or services. For example, you can order a soundbar from the JioMart store on WhatsApp by going through the product catalog available via a link in the chat app, complete the purchase on the JioMart website via any method including selecting cash on delivery, and then track the delivery of the soundbar from the chat.

Devanathan said about 650 million Indian digital users use social media and messaging platforms, of which 450 million are not adept at online shopping, sharing findings from a Meta India report conducted with Bain & Company. They surveyed 7,800 users, including 25 senior executives from large and mid-sized companies in retail, consumer products, banking, finance, insurance, automotive and travel, and 150 companies in India.

Target users

This user delta gives enterprises the opportunity to use conversational platforms and GenAI-powered tools to attract these users, especially the 350 million subsets that have transacted UPI, which would be unlikely to convert. This group of users is well-versed in online payments and may therefore be willing to shop on a chat platform with the same ease.

Meta also believes that more users may be willing to make purchases via chat, as most respondents were reluctant to download apps, faced issues such as limited phone memory and difficulty navigating apps, and 40% even gave up on purchasing if will be tricked into installing the app. Therefore, enterprise applications may not be able to grow beyond a delta of 50 to 100 million top customers.

Devanathan added that 70% of small and large enterprises covered by the report are already increasing investments in these solutions, 60% of surveyed large enterprises plan to increase spending – primarily on smooth functionality of chat payments and support for national languages ​​- on conversation platforms in the next three to four years, and approximately 80% of enterprises plan to invest in generative artificial intelligence in the next one to two years.

For example, enterprises are looking to invest in delivering end-to-end journeys through AI-powered generative conversational platforms. Seamless chat payment functionality, national language support, chat voice ordering and interactive menus are the key areas they will invest in.

Some of the early adopters of GenAI include Zomato, Flipkart, Myntra and Plum, which have created their own chat bots that help users as suitably personalized food assistants, a shopping chat bot, a clothing discovery bot and an insurance query resolution bot.

Business news

“As business communications become more popular, we are investing in ways that businesses can grow on the platform, reach their audiences and build customer service experiences. “It takes a lot of external effort because we see it both as an organic behavior that happens on our platform, people connecting with companies, but we also see it as a key growth driver,” she said. Mint while presenting the conclusions of the report.

For small businesses, call or chat-based communications could reduce costs that would otherwise be spent on discovery, cataloguing, order management, payments and customer engagement. However, this does not replace applications designed to attract and retain users.

“It is a complementary platform that attracts users with faster services such as checking your credit card statement, if it is a bank, on WhatsApp, while the full suite of services is available on the app,” she noted.

GenAI has also seen success across all of the company’s platforms – Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – with almost 50% of all content on Instagram recommended by AI.

According to statistics, WhatsApp has 400 million users in India, and according to Statista, the number is around 2 billion worldwide, making it the largest market in the world. While many of these users may be active chat users and even send voice notes and videos to their network on the platform, they haven’t yet started purchasing products in the same way.

Data from the report suggests that 90% of surveyed “digital inexperienced users” prefer to engage with small and medium-sized businesses via conversational platforms for everyday needs, and 70% said they would prefer to engage with local grocery stores to send a list of items and submit your order.

About 65% of users prefer to connect with local restaurants to receive offers and place orders, and 80% of users would prefer to collect service requests, manage warranty or request a technician visit or replacement of spare parts using the conversational platform.

“Between the 200 million who transact and the 650 million, there are also 350 million who have at least transacted UPI. So in the short to medium term, there is an opportunity in many respects that the additional 150 million users who are not heavy users of digital channels for commerce will likely start adopting these use cases quite quickly,” said Navneet Chahal, partner at Bain & Company.

More possibilities

Meta has doubled down on its efforts, creating more opportunities for businesses on its platform. Last year, it announced WhatsApp Flows, APIs and opened up WhatsApp Payments to accept UPI and other forms of payment, along with features called Click to WhatsApp that allow businesses to build audiences by targeting them via Facebook and Instagram.

Click to Message is now a $10 billion global business for us (Meta), which is significant. Every week, we see almost 1 billion messages exchanged between companies and users on our platform. In India, 60% of people talk to the company every week,” she added.

Devanathan said the company has also seen significant success in payments, where it uses cases such as transit – subway tickets and late bus rides – started in great style.

“My main goal is to actually improve public transport,” Devanathan said, adding that the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is the latest addition to the suite of commuter services, including Delhi Metro, which has adopted WhatsApp payments to sell QR tickets via using UPI.