Guides
Selling on WhatsApp in Sri Lanka
Direct answers to the questions Sri Lankan shop owners actually ask — what WhatsApp really costs, whether a bot can handle Sinhala, how to serve tourists, and how to take an order you can actually ship.
WhatsApp Business app or the API — which does a Sri Lankan shop need?
The WhatsApp Business app is a free phone app a person types in themselves. The WhatsApp Business Platform, often called the API, lets software send and receive messages on your number so replies can be automatic. Since Meta introduced coexistence in 2025 you can run both on the same number at once, keeping the app on your phone while software answers alongside it.
26 August 2026
Do customers mind talking to an AI on WhatsApp?
In practice customers care far more about getting a fast, accurate answer than about who wrote it. Complaints arise when the agent is obviously robotic, invents prices or refuses to fetch a human. An AI agent should say it is an AI when asked, answer only from the shop’s real catalogue, and hand over to a person the moment the conversation needs one.
14 August 2026
How to sell on WhatsApp in Sri Lanka
Use a WhatsApp Business number, publish it everywhere customers see you, answer quickly with real prices and photos, and capture the full delivery address before confirming any order. In Sri Lanka most sales close on cash on delivery, so the amount written on the waybill must match exactly what the customer was told, including the delivery charge.
14 August 2026
Is it allowed to automate WhatsApp replies for a business?
Automating replies is allowed and officially supported through Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform, which exists specifically so businesses can answer customers programmatically. Numbers get restricted for how they are used, not for being automated: sending unsolicited bulk messages, messaging people who never contacted you, and being reported as spam are what cause bans. Answering people who message you first is exactly what the platform is designed for.
14 August 2026
What does a WhatsApp AI agent cost for a Sri Lankan shop?
Agent Kesh costs LKR 16,000 per month for 500 conversations on Starter, LKR 36,000 for 1,200 conversations on Growth, and LKR 95,000 upward for custom volume on Business. One conversation means one customer chatting on one day, however many messages they send. Most shops use only 30 to 40 percent of their plan.
14 August 2026
How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost in Sri Lanka?
Access to the WhatsApp Business Platform is free — Meta charges per delivered template message, not for the platform. Conversations a customer starts are free to answer for 24 hours, with no limit on how many messages you exchange in that window. For a Sri Lankan shop replying to customers who message first, the WhatsApp cost is effectively zero; you pay only if you send marketing, utility or authentication templates.
14 August 2026
Can a WhatsApp chatbot reply in Sinhala?
Yes. A WhatsApp chatbot can reply in Sinhala script and in Singlish — Sinhala typed in English letters — which is how most Sri Lankans message. The difference between tools is quality: many produce stiff, literary Sinhala that reads like a government form, while a good agent writes the casual spoken Sinhala a shop assistant would use, and replies in whichever script the customer wrote in.
14 August 2026
How do you take an order on WhatsApp without losing the address?
A shippable WhatsApp order needs the item and quantity, the customer’s name, the full delivery address including town, a contact number for the courier, and the amount to collect including delivery. Missing any of these means going back to the customer later, which is where orders are lost.
14 August 2026
How do you answer Russian, Hebrew and Arabic-speaking tourists on WhatsApp?
A WhatsApp AI agent can detect the language a tourist writes in and reply in it. Agent Kesh supports Russian, Hebrew and Arabic alongside Sinhala, Tamil and English: the visitor writes in their own language and gets an answer in the same language and script, quoting the shop’s real prices. Shops switch these languages on individually, so a business selling only to locals is unaffected.
14 August 2026
Try it yourself
There is a live demo shop you can message right now — no signup. Ask it in Sinhala, Singlish, Tamil, English, Hebrew, Russian or Arabic.
Chat with the demo shop