WhatsApp for distributors: dealer orders, dispatch updates and payment reminders on one number

Ashok Menon runs an electrical goods distributorship in Kochi: wires, switches, MCBs and ceiling fans, supplied to about 200 retailers and electrical contractors across Ernakulam and Thrissur from a godown in Edappally. He has four field sales reps, two people in the office and accounting software that does the billing. Like most businesses that search for WhatsApp for distributors, he already uses it all day. (Ashok and his firm are invented; the rules are Meta’s.)

On a Monday the orders arrive on six phones. Some come to the office number, some to the reps’ own phones, a few as photos of a handwritten list. One rep was on leave last week, and three dealers’ orders sat unread on his phone until Tuesday. The new rate list went out as a PDF forwarded from a rep’s gallery. And the ₹38 lakh outstanding is chased by phone calls nobody logs.

What does WhatsApp for distributors look like when it works?

One business number for every dealer, each dealer assigned to one rep, and every message sent in the category Meta will charge for it. Here are the messages a distributor sends, with Meta’s India rates on the 1 October 2026 rate card, per delivered message before GST:

Message	Who starts it	Meta category	India rate
Dealer’s order and your replies to it	The dealer	Service, inside the 24-hour window	First 1,000 a month per number free, then ₹0.1150
Order confirmation	You, once it’s entered	Utility	₹0.1150
Dispatch update with invoice	You	Utility	₹0.1150
Payment due on an invoice	You	Utility	₹0.1150
New rate list to every dealer	You	Budget it as marketing	₹0.8631
Scheme announcement	You	Marketing, opt-in only	₹0.8631

The same layout fits a manufacturer that sells straight to dealers; WhatsApp for manufacturers is mostly this playbook with a factory instead of a godown.

Since 1 October 2026 utility templates sent inside the 24-hour window are charged too, so a confirmation sent a minute after the dealer’s order still costs ₹0.1150. (Terms such as service message and template are in our glossary.)

Sending catalogue and rate list updates

Send the rate list as a document, not a photo of a printout. Meta’s document messages page (updated 21 May 2026) supports PDF, XLS and XLSX among other formats, up to 100 MB, with a caption of up to 1,024 characters. Put the effective date in the filename, such as Rate-List-Wires-Switches-from-1-Nov-2026.pdf, so a dealer can tell which version he is quoting from.

When a dealer asks “new rate list?”, the PDF is a reply inside the window and costs no more than any service message. Pushing it to all 200 dealers at once needs a template with a document header, and we’d budget that as marketing. Meta’s categorization page (updated 15 September 2026) says a utility template must be non-promotional and specific to the user or requested by them; a general rate list sent to every dealer is hard to argue is either. Meta decides at review.

Meta also has product messages that show a catalogue and let a buyer send a cart from the chat; our catalogue messages guide covers them. For a distributor with 800 line items and a rate list that changes every month, a PDF and a typed order is still what most dealers use.

Taking dealer orders on WhatsApp without losing them

Give dealers one format, read every order back, and write your order number on the chat. B2B WhatsApp ordering done this way needs no app or portal on the dealer’s side.

Share this format once with each dealer and ask him to save it:

ORDER
Shop name:
Item, size, quantity (one per line)
Needed by: today / tomorrow / date

The assigned rep replies with the order as he understood it, line by line, and waits for an OK. A photo of a handwritten list is fine; the rep types it out and reads it back, because “2.5 FR 10” means ten coils to one dealer and ten metres to another. Once the order is in the billing software, the rep adds an internal note with the sales order number and tags the chat as an open order. When it dispatches, the tag changes.

Order confirmation and dispatch updates

Send both as utility templates, filled from the billing record. Meta’s categorization page lists order management as utility: confirming, updating or cancelling an order “using specific order or transaction details”, provided the message doesn’t promote, upsell or cross-sell. Its utility templates page (updated 17 June 2026) allows a header of any type, which is how the invoice travels with the dispatch update.

Order {{1}} from {{2}} is confirmed: {{3}} lines, value ₹{{4}} before tax. We will message you again when it leaves our godown. Reply here if any item is missing.

Order {{1}} left our Edappally godown today with {{2}}, LR number {{3}}. Expected at your shop on {{4}}. The invoice is attached above.

The second one carries the invoice PDF as a document header. Meta’s template review page (updated 17 June 2026) rejects templates that start or end with a variable, which is why each one closes with a plain sentence.

Keep both clean. “Also try our new BLDC fans” in a dispatch update is mixed content, and Meta’s page lists mixed content as marketing, at ₹0.8631 instead of ₹0.1150.

Payment-due and outstanding reminders

A reminder about an invoice the dealer already owes is utility. Meta’s examples for account alerts include “Reminder: Your monthly payment for {{service}} will be billed on {{date}}”, and the same section says such messages must not include offers.

Payment reminder from Menon Electricals: invoice {{1}} dated {{2}} for ₹{{3}} is due on {{4}}. Total outstanding on your account today is ₹{{5}}. If you have already paid, please reply with the UTR number so we can match it.

We’d send it three days before the due date and once on the day. After that, the rep calls. Dealers are relationships, and a third automated reminder to a shop that has bought from you for twelve years does more harm than the money is worth.

An early-payment discount is a good idea and belongs in its own message. Put “pay by Friday and get 1% off” inside the reminder and the template becomes marketing.

Scheme announcements: marketing, and only to dealers who said yes

Schemes are promotions, so they are marketing templates at ₹0.8631 a message and need the dealer’s opt-in. The Business Messaging Policy (updated 23 September 2026) says you may contact people only if they’ve given you their number and opted in to messages from you, and its best practices suggest a separate opt-in for each kind of message.

Ask each dealer on the next visit: order and payment updates on WhatsApp, yes or no; schemes and new products, yes or no. Record both answers on the contact. A dealer who says no to schemes keeps getting dispatch updates.

November scheme from Menon Electricals: buy {{1}} coils of {{2}} and get {{3}} free, valid till {{4}}. Reply ORDER to book it with your sales rep, or tap Stop schemes below.

The Stop schemes button is a marketing opt-out. Honour it the same day, and send schemes to a segment (contractors in Thrissur, say) rather than all 200. Our opt-in guide has the record-keeping.

One rep per dealer: linked devices or a shared inbox?

Linked devices put every rep on every dealer’s chat. A shared inbox lets each dealer belong to one rep, with the office seeing everything.

The free WhatsApp Business app allows one phone and up to four linked devices, according to WhatsApp’s help centre, and linked devices log out if the main phone goes unused for over 14 days. Ashok’s seven people don’t fit. Meta’s paid multi-agent option allows up to 10 devices and adds chat assignment, through a Meta Verified or Meta One subscription; the help centre says calls ring only on the primary phone once more than four devices are linked. Our WhatsApp Business Web guide covers the linked-device rules in detail.

A shared inbox on the WhatsApp Business Platform drops the device count: each person logs in as themselves, dealers are assigned by district, and a rep in the field opens the same inbox in his phone’s browser. When a rep leaves, his dealers’ chats stay with the company and are reassigned in a minute. Our guide to WhatsApp for multiple users compares all three.

The trade-off is real. On the Platform, Meta charges per message, including replies after the first 1,000 a month, and moving a number to it usually means it stops working in the phone app. Ask any provider how they handle that before you move.

Why doesn’t one WhatsApp group for all dealers work?

Because Meta’s Groups API holds 8 participants. Its overview, updated 15 October 2026, lists a maximum of 8 per group, requires an Official Business Account, and doesn’t support interactive messages in groups. Two hundred dealers won’t fit, and you wouldn’t want them reading each other’s orders and rates anyway.

A group per dealer (owner, counter man, accountant) does fit, but every group message is charged once per member it reaches. Our Groups API guide costs that out, using a dealer network as one of its examples. For announcements, one-to-one templates are cheaper.

What it costs for a 200-dealer network

These numbers are illustrative: 200 dealers, six orders each a month, three replies from your side per order chat, a monthly rate list and two schemes to the 150 dealers who opted in. Meta’s rates, before GST:

Message	Category	Volume	Meta charge
Replies in order chats	Service	3,600	1,000 free, then 2,600 × ₹0.1150 = ₹299.00
Order confirmations	Utility	1,200	₹138.00
Dispatch updates with invoice	Utility	1,200	₹138.00
Payment reminders	Utility	400	₹46.00
Monthly rate list	Marketing (budgeted)	200	₹172.62
Two schemes to opted-in dealers	Marketing	300	₹258.93

About ₹1,050 a month in Meta charges. Two lines are worth watching. The marketing rows are 41% of the bill for 7% of the messages, so a scheme sent to every dealer instead of the 150 who asked costs more and earns blocks. And the service line grows with every “ok”, “noted” and “sent?” your reps type, so agree with them what needs a reply and what doesn’t.

The provider’s plan is on top. Our October 2026 cost guide has the full rate table.

Before you move the dealers

• One business number on the bill book, the rate list and every rep’s visiting card
• Every dealer assigned to one rep, with the office able to see all chats
• One order format shared with every dealer, and every order read back
• Order and dispatch templates approved as utility, with no offers in them
• Payment reminder tied to an invoice number, sent twice at most before a call
• Two opt-in answers recorded per dealer: updates, and schemes
• Schemes sent to a segment, with a Stop schemes button
• Rate list sent as a dated PDF, budgeted at the marketing rate

Start with the assignment list. Two hundred names, one rep against each, agreed with the reps before anything moves. Every other step in this playbook assumes it exists.