Guide · Clothing stores and boutiques
How to sell on WhatsApp from your boutique
Send clear daylight photos with a code, price and the sizes in stock for every piece, and answer size questions with your own size chart in inches. Confirm every order in one message with code, size, colour, quantity, total and address, then send a UPI payment link and dispatch only after the payment is matched. Update stock the same day, so you never sell a size that is already gone.
In short
- Every product photo should carry a code, price and available sizes, so a customer can order in one line.
- A size chart in inches answers most “Will M fit me?” questions before they become returns.
- One confirmation message with code, size, colour, quantity, total and address prevents most wrong deliveries.
- Taking UPI payment before dispatch saves you from parcels refused at the door.
- Fast replies at night matter, because many customers browse after dinner.
Photos that sell on WhatsApp
Customers decide from a phone screen, so the photo is your shop window. Shoot in daylight near a window, on a plain wall or a hanger, with one close-up of the fabric and the work. A colour that looks maroon under a tube light can arrive looking brown, and that becomes a return.
Put a code on every piece, like “K-118”, and write the price and sizes in stock in the caption. A customer who can reply “K-118, M, 2 piece” orders in one line. Without a code you get “wo pink wala, jo kal bheja tha”, and ten messages of back and forth.
- Front, back and a fabric close-up for each piece
- Code, price and sizes in the caption
- A line saying colour may look slightly different on screen
- A separate photo of the dupatta or set pieces, so nobody assumes they are included when they are not
Sizes and colours without mix-ups
“M size mein hai?” is the question every boutique gets all day, and the riskiest one. Your M is not every brand’s M. Send a simple size chart in inches: bust, waist, hip and length from S to XXL. Save it as a photo and send it with every first enquiry.
For stitched-to-measure orders, ask for measurements in one fixed format and repeat them back. If a customer says “mera size L hai”, ask for bust and length anyway. One extra message now saves an alteration and a courier both ways later.
How to take an order on WhatsApp
Before you pack anything, send one confirmation message and ask the customer to reply “OK”. If something is wrong, you find out now, not when the parcel comes back. It should have everything in one place:
- Product code and name
- Size, colour and quantity
- Price, delivery charge and total
- Full address with pincode, and a phone number for the courier
- Expected dispatch date
- Your exchange or return rule, in one line
Getting paid by UPI before you dispatch
For couriered orders, ask for payment before dispatch. Cash on delivery sounds friendly, but parcels get refused at the door and you pay the courier both ways. A UPI payment link or your QR with the exact amount is the simplest way. Your customers already pay like this for everything from chai to a phone recharge.
Match each payment to its order before you pack. Two customers sending ₹1,499 on the same evening is normal in festival season, and the name on UPI is often not the name on WhatsApp. Ask for a screenshot only if you can’t match it yourself. For local regulars who pick up from the shop, collect at pickup, but still write the order down.
Stock, the festival rush and the books
Navratri, Diwali, Karva Chauth, Eid and the wedding months bring a flood of enquiries. That is exactly when the last L in a popular colour gets sold twice, once at the counter and once on WhatsApp. Update stock the moment a piece is sold, size by size. If a size is gone, say so at once and offer the nearest one.
Log every sale, alteration charge and courier cost the same day. After the rush you will want to know which designs sold, which sizes ran out first, and what the season really earned after courier and packing.
Doing this on WhatsApp with Kalki
Answering customers on your boutique’s own WhatsApp number, at 11 am or 11 pm, is the front desk, a custom add-on for Kalki for Business that the goKalki team sets up with you. It answers size and colour questions from your stock list, sends the product photos you have shared with it, and takes the order: size, colour, quantity and address, confirmed with the customer and written into your book. A customer who writes in Tamil or Marathi gets an answer in that language, and anything it can’t answer comes to you. Talk to us at hello@gokalki.com.
Kalki for Business keeps count of every size and colour and warns you before the popular ones run out. In the same book it logs sales, alteration charges and expenses, so a sale said once updates both your stock and your money, and it gives you the month in Excel or PDF. Kalki works inside WhatsApp only, so many boutiques ask their Instagram customers to message them on WhatsApp to order. Kalki for Business is ₹1,999 a month with 3,000 messages, and the first 3 days are free.
Kalki for Business
Your business assistant
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Meet Kalki for BusinessQuestions
How do I take boutique orders on WhatsApp?
Share photos with a code, price and sizes, then confirm each order in one message with code, size, colour, quantity, total and address. Dispatch only after the customer replies OK and the payment is matched.
Should a boutique offer cash on delivery?
For couriered orders, UPI payment before dispatch is safer, because a refused parcel costs you the courier both ways. For local regulars, you can collect when they pick up.
Can Kalki send product photos to customers?
Yes, through the front desk add-on, which the goKalki team sets up with your own catalogue photos and price list. It answers prices and sizes from your own list. Talk to us at hello@gokalki.com.
Does it work with Instagram orders?
Kalki works inside WhatsApp. Many boutiques ask Instagram customers to message them on WhatsApp to order.