Answers from your catalogue
Prices, sizes, colours, stock notes and delivery areas from your product list, with instructions not to invent a price.
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E-commerce · UAE
E-commerce automation for UAE stores: from first question to paid order in one chat
UAE shoppers ask on WhatsApp before they buy. We answer from your catalogue, take the order, send the payment link or log cash on delivery, and chase the ones who went quiet.
Short answer
E-commerce automation lets your store's WhatsApp answer product, size, price and delivery questions from your own catalogue, take the order, send a Strabl or Ziina payment link (confirmed automatically) or log a cash-on-delivery order, and follow up with buyers who went quiet. We set it up with OrcaFlo (from $14.99 a month + 2¢ per message, 14-day free trial) and build store-side workflows like abandoned cart reminders and restock lists as Custom Automation.
The problem
Where UAE online stores lose orders
Customers find you on Instagram, TikTok or your website, then message on WhatsApp: is it in stock, do you have it in M, how much is delivery to Al Ain, can I pay cash. Every slow answer is an order going to a faster store. Late evening is the busiest time for these questions and the quietest for your team.
Then there's the admin. Someone copies the name and address into a spreadsheet, sends the bank details or a payment link by hand, checks whether it was paid, and messages the courier. Cash-on-delivery orders get lost between chats. Customers who asked a price and disappeared never hear from you again. Each step is small; together they decide how many enquiries become paid orders.
What we automate
Store workflows we set up
Order collection
Takes name, address, items and payment preference in the chat, and passes the order to your team.
Payment links
Sends a Strabl or Ziina payment link with the right amount once we connect your account, and marks the order paid when the payment comes through.
Cash on delivery
If the customer wants to pay at the door, the order is logged as cash on delivery for your team.
Order confirmations
A WhatsApp confirmation of what was ordered, the amount and how it's being paid, so customers don't message to ask.
Follow-ups & broadcasts
Timed follow-ups to people who asked and went quiet, and paced broadcasts for drops and offers.
What it looks like
From question to payment link
Hi, is the black oversized hoodie available in M?
Hi! Yes, the black oversized hoodie is in stock in M for AED 149, with free delivery in Dubai. Would you like to order?
Yes, can I pay by card?
Of course. Please send your name and delivery address and I'll send you a secure payment link for AED 149.
Sara, Al Barsha 1, villa 12
Thanks Sara! Here's your payment link for AED 149. As soon as it's paid I'll confirm the order here.
When the payment comes through, the order is marked paid automatically and your team sees it in the dashboard. If Sara had asked for cash on delivery instead, the assistant would have logged a COD order with the same details. OrcaFlo's guide to taking payments on WhatsApp in the UAE explains the options in more detail.
Store-side automation
Abandoned carts, restock lists and order updates
Some of the most useful e-commerce automations start in your store, not in a chat. These we build as Custom Automation, usually with n8n, Make or Zapier connected to your store platform:
- Abandoned cart reminders: when a checkout is started but not finished, a WhatsApp reminder with what was in the cart, sent once and not repeated. On the official API, a message like this uses a Meta-approved template.
- Abandoned chats: separate from carts, OrcaFlo follows up people who asked about a product in WhatsApp and went quiet, and stops the moment they reply.
- Restock lists: customers who ask for a sold-out size or product are added to a list for that item. When it's back, one broadcast goes to that list only, instead of the whole customer base.
- Order status updates: confirmations, dispatch and delivery updates on WhatsApp, triggered from your store or courier data.
- COD reconciliation: a daily sheet of cash-on-delivery orders by status, so nothing is lost between the chat and the courier.
- Returns and complaints: routed straight to a person, with the order details attached.
Channels & hand-over
Instagram, hand-over and connection
The same assistant can answer your Instagram DMs and reply to comments with a private message, so a "price?" under a post becomes a conversation (see Instagram DM automation). Customers can send a photo of a product they saw, which the assistant can read, or a voice note, which is transcribed.
A complaint, a return or refund, a wholesale or very large order, or a question your product list doesn't answer is handed to your team: the assistant pauses for that customer, your staff get a push alert, and they reply from the shared inbox.
OrcaFlo connects to the WhatsApp Business number you already use, in one of two ways. Meta's official WhatsApp Business API gives you the verified route; Meta bills its own per-message fees to your account, and messages sent more than 24 hours after a customer's last message need a Meta-approved template. A QR link to the WhatsApp Business app is quicker to set up and has no Meta fees, but it carries no green tick and some ban risk, because WhatsApp doesn't officially allow unofficial apps. We'll recommend one on the call. OrcaFlo's price is the same on both.
OrcaFlo's page for online stores and product sellers covers the product side in more detail.
Pricing
What e-commerce automation costs
OrcaFlo is $14.99 a month (Starter) or $100 a month (Done-for-you, where we load your catalogue, delivery rules and hand-over rules and keep tuning them), plus 2¢ per message. 14-day free trial, first 500 messages free, no setup fee, cancel any time. A payment processing fee is shown on each invoice; your payment provider's own fees and Meta's fees on the official API are separate. For example, 3,000 messages in a month is $14.99 + $60 = $74.99 on Starter.
Abandoned cart, restock and order-update workflows are quoted as Custom Automation, $400–10,000 by scope. See pricing.
FAQ
Common questions
Can customers pay inside the WhatsApp chat?
Yes. Once we connect your Strabl or Ziina account, the assistant sends a payment link with the right amount and the order is marked paid automatically when the payment comes through.
Does it handle cash on delivery?
Yes. If the customer prefers to pay at the door, the assistant logs a cash-on-delivery order with their details for your team.
Can it send abandoned cart reminders?
Abandoned checkout reminders start in your store, so we build them as Custom Automation connected to your store platform. Follow-ups to people who asked in WhatsApp and went quiet are built into OrcaFlo.
How does a restock list work?
Customers who ask for a sold-out item are added to a list for it. When it's back in stock, one broadcast goes to that list only, paced to protect your number.
How many products can it know?
You upload your product list and documents in the dashboard and edit them any time; it answers from them and won't invent a price.
Does it answer Instagram DMs too?
Yes. The same assistant answers Instagram DMs and replies to comments with a private message, in the same inbox as WhatsApp.
Talk to Nuevo Automations
Turn WhatsApp questions into paid orders
Twenty minutes, free. We'll look at how orders reach you today and show you what we'd automate first.
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