E-commerce service Snapdeal now lets you search for products via WhatsApp. (hat tip: @surajkala). However, it is not clear if this is an official project by the company or a demo made by someone for its Launchpad contest. To use the service, you have to add +91 9278 992789 as a contact and then WhatsApp this account with any product name (ex: apple or mobile). It will return prices for the a couple of relevant items and also post a link to see more results. The service was able to address me by name since I had purchased items from the website in the past. We tried calling the number and it was switched off, indicating that the SIM was not plugged into a phone. WhatsApp does not have any APIs as of now, so it is possible that the company has created a bot using one of the unofficial hacks to get it to work. The service itself is a bit silly, since the person can do the search on the company's website and get the same results. The results on WhatsApp are not actionable and hardly adds any value from consumer perspective. This is not the first time companies have used WhatsApp to interact with Indians. BBC had started a trial using WhatsApp to deliver news updates in English and Hindi last month. Kerala police meanwhile has been using the service to let people report traffic violations. API issues These initiatives indicate that brands are definitely interested in using WhatsApp…
