For UK wholesalers and distributors
WhatsApp orders for UK wholesalers: taking them without retyping.
WhatsApp orders reach a wholesaler on a rep's own phone or on one shared business number, as a text, a photo of a handwritten list or a voice note, and someone retypes each one. Connect that number to WhatsApp's Business Platform and each message can be read, checked against the customer's prices and your stock, and left as a draft order your team approves.
Or send us one order and see what we'd read and flag, by the end of the next working day.
What suppliers say
Few wholesalers advertise WhatsApp ordering on their websites.
4 of 108
UK distributors and wholesalers in our study invite orders by WhatsApp on their website. Two of the four are foodservice wholesalers.
17 of 23
foodservice wholesalers with online ordering still ask customers to phone orders in or give them to a rep.
From our study of 209 UK supplier websites, October 2026. It can't show how many customers already message a rep directly. Read the research note.
How they arrive today
The order is already in writing. It's in the wrong place.
Some go to a rep's own phone. A customer sends the order to the rep's mobile at 21:40: "same as Tuesday plus a case of the large eggs". The rep is driving or off. The order gets forwarded or read out to the desk, then keyed. When the rep leaves, that customer's order history leaves with the phone.
The rest go to a shared number. The desk runs the WhatsApp Business app on one number, open on a phone and a couple of desktop screens. Orders arrive mixed in with delivery queries. Someone reads each one and types it. Photos of handwritten lists and voice notes take longest.
How it works
From a WhatsApp message to a draft order, step by step.
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1
The message arrives
On your business number, connected to WhatsApp's Business Platform. Texts, photos of order sheets and attached files are passed on as they come in.
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2
Read and checked
Each order is read: customer, products in their words, quantities, day. Lines are matched to your product list using the customer's past orders, then checked against their prices and your stock. "Same as Tuesday" is filled from Tuesday's order.
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3
Approved, then confirmed
Your team checks the draft beside the original message and approves. The order goes into your ERP (see AI order entry), and a confirmation goes back on WhatsApp once a person has approved that too.
Voice notes are the hard case. We'd count how many you get in the session before promising anything for them.
An order, for example
A café's late-night order to a foodservice wholesaler.
Comes in
Hi it's Mel from Bramble Café. Same as last Tuesday but double the oat milk pls, and the stuff on the photo. Thurs delivery x
Checked
- Customer matched from the phone number: Bramble Café
- "Same as last Tuesday": 11 lines from that order
- Barista oat milk, 1 litre: 6 cases doubled to 12
- Photo: 4 handwritten lines read and matched
- Thursday isn't on her route. Next drop is Friday
Waits for your approval
Draft order · 15 lines · 1 question
Reply drafted for your approval: "Thanks Mel, all in stock. Your next delivery is Friday, is that OK?"
Illustration with invented data. More on AI for wholesale distributors.
WhatsApp Business
What WhatsApp Business offers, and how we would connect to it.
From Meta's own WhatsApp Business pages and developer documentation, checked in October 2026.
- The Business app
- Free to download and built for small businesses, with a product catalog, chat labels, quick replies and automatic away messages. Meta's feature page says up to 10 devices and agents can be linked to one account.
- The Business Platform
- For medium and larger businesses: a set of APIs, often called the WhatsApp API, that connects WhatsApp to your other systems. Each message a customer sends to your number is passed to your system as it arrives. This is the route we would use.
- Replies
- When a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it you can reply freely, and Meta doesn't charge for ordinary replies. Outside it, you can only send pre-approved template messages, which are charged per message.
- Keeping the app
- Meta's documentation describes connecting an existing Business app number to the Platform, after which your team can still message one to one from the app. Some app features change: broadcast lists become read-only.
What it costs you today
Add up the evening orders.
Illustration with invented data: 40 WhatsApp orders a night, five nights a week, across three reps' phones, at 5 minutes each to pass on, read and key, is nearly 17 hours a week.
Put your own figures into the order desk calculator. It shows the hours and the pounds a year and doesn't guess at savings. Late orders also test your cut-off: see what cut-off times UK wholesalers publish.
What you get from us
In this order, with a fixed price before you commit.
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30 minutes
Call with you
Where WhatsApp orders land today, and which number that holds back.
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1 hour
Session with your team
We look at a week of real WhatsApp orders with your desk. The same day you get a one-page verdict: the workflow, the KPI it moves, today's baseline and a fixed price. Or a written no.
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A fixed number of weeks
Build
We connect your number and your ERP and build the reading and checking. Nothing is subcontracted.
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Every month
Run and report
We run it and report order processing time and order accuracy against the baseline. Stop at any report.
Questions
What people ask about WhatsApp orders.
- Can WhatsApp Business take orders automatically?
- The Business app can show a catalog and let customers send a cart as one message, but someone still keys that order into your system. To have orders read and turned into drafts, the number needs connecting to the WhatsApp Business Platform.
- Do we need a new WhatsApp number?
- Not necessarily. Meta's documentation describes connecting an existing Business app number to the Platform, and your team can keep messaging from the app. Some app features change when you do.
- What about orders sent to reps' own phones?
- Those can't be read while they sit on a personal phone. The fix is one business number for orders, printed on invoices and delivery notes, with reps passing on anything sent to them.
- Does WhatsApp charge for this?
- Meta charges per message for template messages. Ordinary replies inside the 24-hour window after a customer messages you are free.
- What does it cost?
- The price is fixed and written on the one-page verdict after the session with your team, before you commit to anything. If we don't find anything worth doing, we'll tell you and leave.
Next step
Thirty minutes on your WhatsApp orders.
Tell us roughly how many orders arrive by WhatsApp and where they land. Or send us one order, a screenshot is fine, and see what we'd read and flag.
The Open Build. We’ll build one UK supplier an order desk system, free and in public, measured on its own numbers. Everyone who applies gets a one-page read of their own workflow. Applications close at 5pm UK time on Friday 6 November. See the Open Build.