For most Kenyan sellers, WhatsApp is the shop counter: it is where customers ask, haggle and order. The free WhatsApp Business app has tools that turn that counter into something closer to a shop. Here is how to set it up — and what changed in October 2026.
App or platform: which one you use matters
- WhatsApp Business app — the free app on your phone, for one person or a small team. This is what almost every small seller uses.
- WhatsApp Business Platform (API) — connects WhatsApp to software, chatbots and CRMs. Used by larger businesses and services that send messages for you.
Meta's October 2026 pricing change is about the Platform, not the free app (see below).
Set up the app to sell
- Business profile. Your business name, a clear logo, what you sell, your location or delivery area, opening hours — and your shop link in the website field.
- Catalogue. Add your main products with a photo, the price and a line of description, so customers browse without asking "how much?".
- Quick replies. Save answers to the questions you get every day — prices, delivery areas and costs, how to pay — and send them with a shortcut.
- Greeting and away messages. A greeting for first-time chats, and an away message after hours that says when you will reply and where to order meanwhile.
- Labels. Tag chats — new order, paid, to deliver, delivered — so nothing falls through the cracks on a busy day.
Make ordering one step
The weak point of selling on WhatsApp is everything after "I want it": confirming the item, the price, delivery, payment, the M-PESA confirmation. A shop link with M-PESA checkout lets a customer do all of that themselves. Send the product link in reply to "how much?" — the price, photos and Pay button are already there.
The October 2026 change for API users
From 1 October 2026, businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform pay for service messages — replies inside the 24-hour customer-service window — after the first 1,000 delivered messages per business number each month. The reported Kenyan rate is about USD 0.004 (around KSh 0.52) a message. Utility templates sent inside the window — order and delivery updates — also became billable. The allowance does not roll over, and automated replies count.
If a service sends WhatsApp messages for your shop through the API, ask how this affects you. If you use the free app on your phone, nothing changes.
Where Duka fits
Put your Duka shop link in your WhatsApp profile, status and quick replies. Customers order and pay by M-PESA in the shop, and you see every paid order in one dashboard — WhatsApp stays for the conversation.