WhatsApp Business API for Grocery Stores and Kirana Shops

The order book is already on WhatsApp

India shops at the kirana, and increasingly it orders from the kirana on WhatsApp.

What breaks is everything around the message. The owner's phone has the orders. The delivery boy needs the address. The son who handles billing cannot see the chat. At 8 pm, three orders are missed.

On the API the shop's number opens in a browser. Two or three people work the same chats. An order marked done disappears from the list, and nothing is lost when a phone battery dies.

Make the list easy to send and easy to fill

Do not fight how people order. Let them send the list the way they always do, then use a few small habits:

• Reply with the total and the delivery time, so the customer can confirm before you pack.
• Keep a "monthly staples" message with your top 30 items — customers reply with the numbers they want.
• If you have a website, send the link for repeat orders; order history makes the next month a two-tap job.
• Save each customer's building and flat in the contact notes so the delivery boy is not calling twice.

Voice notes are fine; the team can hear them in the inbox. What matters is that they are heard by whoever is free, not only by the owner.

The messages that bring orders back

Grocery is a habit business. Two campaign types do almost all the work.

The monthly reminder, sent on the first or second of the month to customers who ordered last month: "New month, new list — send it here and we will deliver by evening."

The stock and price message, once a week at most: new arrivals, fresh produce that came in today, or a genuinely lower price on a staple. Keep it to one line and one photo.

Sort customers into lists — monthly buyers, weekly buyers, wholesale or shop customers — so a message that suits one group does not annoy another.

Deliveries without phone calls

Most grocery arguments happen at delivery time. A message solves them before they start: "Out for delivery, reaching in 30 minutes, amount ₹__ payable."

If the shop's billing software can call an API, Pro sends this by itself as soon as the bill is made. If not, one staff member sends the template from the inbox for the day's round.

Ask for the building name and flat number once, and keep it in the contact. Repeat customers should never have to type an address again.

What the platform does not do for a kirana

There is no catalogue or cart inside WhatsApp and no payment in the chat — you send a payment link or take cash at the door. It does not keep khata or credit records; your register or billing software does that.

It does not read a photo of a handwritten list and turn it into an order; a person still reads it. The bot is rule-based, so it can answer timings, delivery charges and areas, not "do you have this brand".

And it does not connect to quick-commerce apps or ONDC. This is your own shop, on your own number.

Which plan a grocery shop needs

A single shop with two people answering fits Starter at ₹790 a month. Growth at ₹990 adds customer lists and the bot for after-hours questions. A supermarket whose billing software should send delivery messages takes Pro at ₹1,290. No setup fee; see the plans page.

Send us your top 30 items with prices, your delivery areas and charges, and your timings. If you also want an online store that takes orders and payments, see ecommerce website for grocery stores.