WhatsApp in your online store: support and orders, official API or direct connection

“Do you have this in size 40?”, “how long does it take to reach the Canary Islands?”, “where is my order?”. For many stores, WhatsApp is already the channel through which most questions arrive, and not always during office hours. Answering late means losing the sale; answering everything by hand means having no time left for anything else.

Before automating anything, you need to understand the pieces: how a WhatsApp number is connected to a system, what each option can do and what you should not do even if it is technically possible.

The ways to connect WhatsApp

WhatsApp Business on your phone

The free app for businesses. It has a catalogue, quick replies, an away message and labels. For a small store it is a good starting point, but a person does everything: it does not look up your catalogue or your orders.

The official WhatsApp Business API

Meta's platform for businesses, through providers or directly. It lets you automate at scale, send notifications and connect to your store or your CRM. In return:

• It requires registering and verifying the business with Meta.
• To start a conversation yourself (a shipping notification, for example) you need previously approved templates.
• It has a cost per conversation or per message, depending on the type, on top of whatever the provider charges.
• Replying to what the customer writes to you is more flexible within a time window from their last message.

Connection as a linked device

Some tools connect your number just like WhatsApp Web: you scan a QR code and the system reads and answers messages as if it were another of your devices. It is quick to set up, requires no Meta registration or templates and has no cost per message. But it is not the official API, and WhatsApp can restrict numbers that behave like bulk senders.

Consent: what you can and cannot send

WhatsApp is an electronic medium, so commercial communications through it follow the same rules as email: the LSSI (Spain's law on information society services and e-commerce) requires prior consent to send advertising by electronic means, and the GDPR requires a legal basis for processing the number and transparency about its use. In practice:

• Answering a customer's query: it is what they asked you for; nothing more is needed.
• Notifications about their order (confirmation, shipping, problems): they relate to the contract, but tell customers at checkout that you will use this channel and let them choose it.
• Promotions, abandoned carts or new arrivals: these need express, separate consent for that channel, and an easy way to unsubscribe.

If you have doubts about your specific case, check with whoever handles your data protection.

What to automate in customer service

Most questions are always the same, and an automated agent can answer them well if it has your store's real data:

1. Product search. “Do you have red trainers?” is answered with two or three products with price and link, looked up in your catalogue, not made up.
2. Order status. With the reference, the status and the tracking number. Privacy matters here: the status should only be given to someone who can prove they are the customer, for example if they write from the phone number on the delivery address.
3. Frequently asked questions: shipping, returns, sizes, opening hours. Keyword-based answers that you maintain.
4. Outside business hours: a clear message saying when a person will reply.

And most importantly: the agent must step aside when you reply. If someone from the team joins a conversation, the system must not keep answering over them.

What is better not to automate

• Complaints, complicated returns and anything involving an upset customer.
• Price negotiations or large B2B orders.
• Changes to an order already paid (address, products), unless you have a very controlled process.

Orders that arrive via WhatsApp

In some stores, especially those with repeat or trade customers, the customer places the order directly on WhatsApp. If that is your case, do not let that order live only in the chat: create the cart or the order in the store, send them the payment link and make sure everything is recorded with its invoice. An order that only exists in a conversation is an order that does not count in your stock or your accounts.

Technical requirements

For an agent to look up products and orders it needs to read your store. In PrestaShop the usual way is the webservice with a key that only has read permissions on what is strictly necessary. Never a key with write access, and never an employee's key.

If your store is outdated, check the webservice too: in old versions it is often half configured or has keys left over from integrations no longer in use. It is a good opportunity to clean up keys and, if needed, plan the upgrade.

Checklist

• A number dedicated to the store, not your personal one.
• Decided whether you use the official API or a linked-device connection, knowing the limits of each.
• Automatic replies only with real store data.
• Order status only for the customer's phone number.
• No promotions without express consent for that channel.
• Read-only webservice key.

How to solve it in PrestaShop

WhatsApp para tu tienda is a Rekire service that connects your store's WhatsApp by scanning a QR code from “Linked devices”, without changing number. An agent replies to whoever writes to you: it searches for products in your catalogue and sends up to three with price and link, replies with your welcome message, your opening hours and keyword-based answers, and steps out of the chat when you reply. On the Growth and Pro plans it gives the status and tracking of an order, only to the phone number on the delivery address. It reads the store through the webservice with a read-only key and is managed from My account, with a simulator to test the replies. It is not the official API: the agent never sends promotions on its own initiative, and a dedicated number is recommended.