Kampe vs WhatsApp Business: when is a catalogue enough?

The sellers I built Kampe for already have a shop, and it's on WhatsApp. New stock goes up on status, and orders come in as messages that often end with a mobile money screenshot.

I'm not going to tell you to leave WhatsApp, because your customers are there and so am I. The real question is when the catalogue stops being enough. This page compares the WhatsApp Business app with a Kampe store from a seller's side. Kampe's numbers are from our pricing page, checked on 17 October 2026.

The short answer

If you get a few orders a week from people who already know you, WhatsApp Business on its own is fine, and it's free. Once you start losing track of who paid and which chat had which order, I think it's time for a store link. You keep WhatsApp for the conversation and let the store handle the order.

What WhatsApp Business does well

I think the conversation is WhatsApp's biggest strength. A customer asks if the dress comes in a size 14, and you send a photo from the back room. No website does that as well as a person replying on WhatsApp.

The Business app adds a catalogue of up to 500 products with photos and prices, plus quick replies for the questions you answer twenty times a day. It costs nothing to install, and your customers already have WhatsApp on their phones. For a new seller testing whether anyone wants the product, that's hard to beat.

Where it gets hard

Payment is the first thing that strains. WhatsApp's help center says paying a business inside the chat only works in India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia, so in Uganda the money moves outside WhatsApp. The customer sends mobile money to your number, sends you a screenshot, and you open your mobile money messages to check it really arrived. Do that for three orders and it's fine. Do it for thirty on a Friday evening and something gets missed.

The orders themselves live inside chats. There's no list of who ordered what and who still owes you, unless you keep that list yourself in a notebook or a spreadsheet. Stock is the same. If you sell the last pair of size 42 shoes to one chat, nothing stops you promising it to the next.

Reach is the quieter limit. Your status is seen by people who have your number saved. I wrote about this in why social media is the storefront and your shop needs a system behind it.

How a Kampe store works with WhatsApp

A Kampe store gives you one link to post on your status and send in chats. The customer opens it, picks what they want and chooses delivery or pickup. Then they pay with MTN or Airtel mobile money, or choose cash on delivery. The order lands in your dashboard already marked paid if they paid by mobile money, and the stock updates.

You still chat on WhatsApp. The difference is that the chat ends with "here's the link" instead of a screenshot you have to check.

On cost, Launch is UGX 5,000 once, with no monthly fee until you reach UGX 1,000,000 in completed sales. We take 6% on mobile money sales, and that includes the mobile money provider's charge. Cash on delivery has no fee. So a UGX 50,000 dress paid by mobile money costs you UGX 3,000 on Launch, and the same dress paid in cash costs you nothing. After your first million you move to Pro at UGX 35,000 a month (UGX 28,000 a month billed yearly) with a 5% fee, or Max at UGX 70,000 a month (UGX 56,000 billed yearly) with 4%.

There are a few things a chat can't do. If someone fills in their details at checkout and doesn't pay, Kampe sends them an automatic email to come back and finish the order. Your money sits in your Kampe balance and you pay it out to MTN or Airtel mobile money, from UGX 10,000, with a UGX 1,500 charge on each withdrawal. If you want more on why paying is only part of a sale, I wrote this post on mobile money.

Delivery

On WhatsApp you agree the delivery fee in the chat every single time. Someone in Ntinda asks how much delivery costs, and they wait for your answer before they decide.

On Kampe you set delivery zones once, named the way you talk about them, like "Central Kampala", each with its own fee and delivery time. The customer sees the fee before they pay. You can also add pickup locations, 1 on Launch, 2 on Pro and 5 on Max. Kampe doesn't send the rider, so your boda or courier stays the same. I think delivery is where buyers decide whether to trust you again, which I wrote about in delivery is where trust gets won or lost.

Kampe vs WhatsApp Business side by side

When WhatsApp Business is the better choice

If every order needs a conversation, like a custom cake or tailored clothes where every detail gets agreed one by one, WhatsApp is the right tool and a checkout gets in the way. I'd keep those orders in the chat.

The same goes for when you're just starting. If you're selling five items a week to friends and people from church, a store is extra work you don't need yet. Use WhatsApp Business, see what people ask for, and come back when the chats get busy.

And honestly, I think most sellers end up using both.

What I'd do

Keep your WhatsApp Business account exactly as it is. Open a Kampe store on Launch for UGX 5,000, add the products you sell most, and start sending the link instead of your mobile money number. All our plans and fees are on the pricing page.

Sources

• Kampe pricing, checked 17 October 2026
• WhatsApp Business app, checked 17 October 2026
• WhatsApp Business FAQ (free to download and use), checked 17 October 2026
• WhatsApp Business catalog guide (up to 500 items), checked 17 October 2026
• WhatsApp Help Center: countries where you can pay businesses, checked 17 October 2026