Last updated: August 2026
TL;DR
- A WhatsApp product catalog is a commerce feature. You upload a product feed, where each item has a name, a price, images, and stock, and customers browse it and add to a cart inside the chat.
- The catalog lives in Meta Commerce Manager, not inside a chat tool. You build it on Meta, connect it to your WhatsApp Business account, and then send products from it.
- You can send products three ways: a single product message, a multi-product message (up to 30 items), and product cards pulled live from the feed. These read the current price and stock every time.
- A catalog is for stores selling priced products in the chat. If you sell services, plans, or categories with no price and no cart, a carousel is lighter, see WhatsApp Carousel Cards: Your Catalog, Easier.
- In Invent, you build and manage the catalog on Meta, then send it through your templates, the same way you send a Flow. A built-in catalog view inside Invent is on the way.
A catalog is a store in the chat. Set it up once, then let your assistant sell from it.
If you sell priced products and you want customers to browse, pick, and check out inside WhatsApp, the WhatsApp product catalog is the right tool. It is more setup than a simple message, because it is real commerce, but once it exists your assistant can show the right products at the right moment. This guide covers what a catalog is, how to set one up, and how to send it with Invent.
This is conversational commerce in its most concrete form: the browsing, the questions, and the purchase all happen in one conversation. And it is where selling is heading. Fortune Business Insights values the conversational commerce market at 12.77 billion dollars in 2025, on its way to nearly 40 billion by 2034.
What a WhatsApp product catalog is
A WhatsApp catalog is a collection of the products you sell, shown inside the chat. Each product has a name, a description, a price, one or more images, and availability. Customers can open the catalog, browse items, and add them to a cart without leaving WhatsApp. The catalog shown in WhatsApp holds up to 500 items, and each product can carry up to 10 photos or videos.
There are two ways to run one. The WhatsApp Business app lets a small shop manage a catalog from a phone, which works until you want automation. This guide covers the business-platform path, where the catalog connects to your WhatsApp Business account and your AI assistant can send it, so the storefront works while you do something else.
The important thing to understand is where the catalog lives. It is not built inside a messaging tool. It lives in Meta Commerce Manager, the same place that powers shops on Facebook and Instagram. Your catalog there becomes the single source of truth for everything you sell in the chat, and every product message reads from it live.
That live connection is the catalog's biggest strength. When you change a price or mark something out of stock in Commerce Manager, every WhatsApp message that shows that product updates too. You are never sending a stale price.
What you can send from a catalog
Once your catalog is connected, there are three ways to put products in front of a customer:
- A single product message shows one item with its image, price, and description, plus a way to add it to the cart.
- A multi-product message shows a curated set of products, organized into sections, up to 30 items in one message. This is the closest thing to a mini storefront in the chat.
- Product cards pull priced items straight from the feed, so the customer swipes through real inventory.
You send the catalog as a Catalog message template. Under Templates, create one template, choose the Catalog type, connect and choose your catalog, and submit it for review. Like any template, it goes to Meta for approval, which usually takes about 24 hours. Once approved, the template shows your catalog as a browsable storefront in the chat, with categories and products. The tradeoff versus a carousel is the setup that comes before it: you need the catalog, the product feed, and commerce permissions in place first.
A Catalog template in Invent: body text, the Full catalog block, and WhatsApp's one allowed button, View catalog.
How to set up a WhatsApp catalog
Setting up a catalog is a one-time job. Here is the path from nothing to a live catalog you can send from.
1. Open Commerce Manager
You build the catalog on Meta, not inside Invent. The quickest way to get there is from Invent: go to WhatsApp, then Catalog, and click Open Commerce Manager. That drops you into Meta's Commerce Manager for your business, already pointed at the right account.
2. Create your catalog
In Commerce Manager, choose to create a catalog (you can also create a full shop, but a catalog is all you need to send products in WhatsApp). Pick the market you sell to, name the catalog, and select your business account.
3. Add your products
Fill the catalog with products. Commerce Manager gives you a few ways to add them, so you can match the effort to your list size:
- Manual entry: add products one at a time in a form. Each item takes an image or video, a title, a description of the features and benefits, a website link, and a price.
- Data file: add many products at once from a pre-filled Excel or CSV file.
- Partner platform: sync products from a connected ecommerce platform. Commerce Manager supports Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Magento, plus feed partners like Feedonomics and GoDataFeed, so the catalog stays in step with your store.
- Pixel: pull products from your website using a Meta Pixel.
- Facebook Page or Instagram profile: if you already post products there, Commerce Manager can add the ones from your posts in the last 45 days.
For a short list, manual entry is fine. If you already run a store, a data file or a partner sync saves the most time. The screen also notes you need at least five products to run Advantage+ catalog ads, which is a Meta ads feature; for sending in WhatsApp you can start with fewer.
Two habits make a catalog browse well. Use clear, well-lit photos on every item, because in the chat the image is the shelf. And organize products into categories from the start, so the storefront reads as sections a customer can scan instead of one long list.
Each product carries an image, a name, a SKU, and a price, and the chat always reads the current version.
4. Connect the catalog to WhatsApp
The catalog has to be linked to your WhatsApp Business account so the chat can read from it. From there, the approval you wait on is the template's. Because a catalog is sent as a template, you cannot send it until Meta approves that template, which usually takes about 24 hours.
Connected: once the catalog is linked to your WhatsApp Business account, the chat reads products and prices straight from it.
5. Manage it from Invent
Once your catalog is approved and set up on Meta, you manage and send it from Invent, through your templates, the same as a Flow. You do the one-time build on Meta, then everything after that lives with your assistant. A catalog view inside Invent, where you browse and edit the products your WhatsApp catalog shows without leaving the platform, is on the way.
Using the catalog with your Invent assistant
A catalog on its own is just inventory. The value shows up when your assistant sends the right products at the right moment.
In Invent, the catalog and its products are available as buttons on your templates. When you build a template, a button can open a Flow, show your Catalog, or list specific Products, next to the ordinary quick-reply and link buttons. So your assistant can answer a question, then send the exact products that fit, all in the same chat.
Because your assistant grounds its answers in your knowledge base and your customer records, it can do this with context. A customer asking about a specific category gets the products from that category. A returning customer gets a message that already knows who they are. The catalog supplies the inventory, and the assistant decides what to show and when.
WhatsApp catalog vs carousel cards: which one you need
The catalog is powerful, but it is not always the right tool. It shines when you are selling priced products with a cart. For everything else, there is a lighter option.
- Use the catalog when customers pay for a priced product inside the chat, and you want live prices, stock, and a cart.
- Use carousel cards when you want to present services, plans, or a few clear choices, with no prices and no cart. Cards need one template approval and no product feed.
If you are not sure which fits, the full comparison is in WhatsApp Carousel Cards: Your Catalog, Easier. The short version: a catalog is a store, and carousel cards are a way to show a few options and route the reply.
What we're building at Invent
At useinvent.com we build AI assistants that chat, talk, and answer from your data across more than 300 integrations. WhatsApp is one of the channels those assistants live on, and we manage the WhatsApp pieces, templates, broadcasts, business profile, catalog, and account health, from inside the platform.
For catalogs, that means meeting you where the work already is. You build the catalog on Meta, because that is where WhatsApp commerce lives, and you send it from Invent, because that is where your assistant and your customers are. As our in-platform catalog view rolls out, more of that management moves into Invent too, so you spend less time in Meta tools and more time selling.
Set up the store once. Let the assistant run it.
A WhatsApp catalog turns the chat into a place customers can actually buy, and it stays current because it reads live from your feed. Set it up once in Commerce Manager, connect it to WhatsApp, and let your assistant send the right products to the right customer.
One honest closing note for small businesses: the catalog earns its setup only when customers pay for priced products inside the chat. If that is not you, or not you yet, carousel cards give you the same storefront feel with a fraction of the setup: no Commerce Manager, no product feed, just cards your assistant sends. For most small businesses, the cards are the easier place to start, and the catalog is the upgrade for when the cart earns it.
A catalog when you need the cart. Carousel cards when you want it easy.
FAQs
What is a WhatsApp product catalog?
It is a collection of your products, with names, prices, images, and stock, shown inside a WhatsApp chat. It lives in Meta Commerce Manager, and customers can browse it and add items to a cart without leaving WhatsApp.
Where do I build a WhatsApp catalog?
In Meta Commerce Manager, not inside a chat tool. From Invent you can jump straight there: go to WhatsApp, then Catalog, and click Open Commerce Manager.
Is a WhatsApp catalog free?
The catalog itself is free to set up. It asks for work rather than money: a product feed with prices, a connection to your WhatsApp Business account, and commerce permissions from Meta.
Do catalog messages need template approval?
Yes. You send a catalog as a Catalog message template: create a template, choose the Catalog type, connect and choose your catalog, and submit it for review. Like any template, it goes to Meta for approval, which usually takes about 24 hours. The catalog and commerce permissions must be set up first.
How many products can a WhatsApp catalog have?
The catalog shown in WhatsApp holds up to 500 items, and each product can include up to 10 photos or videos. For bigger inventories, keep the WhatsApp catalog to your sellable core and let the full range live on your site.
How many products can a WhatsApp message show?
A multi-product message can show up to 30 items, organized into sections. A single product message shows one. Your full catalog can hold many more; the limits are per message, not per catalog.
Can I sync my catalog from Shopify or another platform?
Yes. Commerce Manager lets you add products from a data file (Excel or CSV), sync from a partner platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and feed tools like Feedonomics), pull from your website with a Meta Pixel, or import from your Facebook Page or Instagram posts. So a catalog can stay in step with your store automatically instead of being kept up by hand.
Do I need a catalog to sell on WhatsApp?
Only if you want priced products and a cart in the chat. To present services, plans, or a few options without prices, carousel cards do the job with less setup. See our carousel cards guide for the comparison.
Can my Invent assistant send products from the catalog?
Yes. In Invent, the catalog and specific products are available as template buttons, so your assistant can send the right products based on what the customer asked, grounded in your knowledge base and customer records.
Is a WhatsApp catalog conversational commerce?
Yes. Conversational commerce is selling through real-time conversation, and a WhatsApp catalog is its most complete form: customers browse products, ask questions, and buy without leaving the chat. Pair it with carousel cards, Flows, and an AI assistant that decides what to send, and the whole storefront runs inside the conversation.
What is the difference between a catalog and a carousel template?
A catalog is live commerce: priced products, read from a feed, with a cart. A carousel template is a designed set of cards you submit for approval once, with no prices and no cart. Catalogs are for stores; carousels are for options and services.
Related
- WhatsApp Carousel Cards: Your Catalog, Easier
- Accept Stripe Payments Instantly in WhatsApp
- WhatsApp Templates and Template Replies Guide
- How to Build a WhatsApp AI Chatbot (No Code)
A catalog gives your chat a store. Your assistant is what decides which products to show.
