If your online store is stitched together with plugins and spreadsheets, Zoho is making a case for consolidation. The company has rolled out a refreshed Zoho Commerce that folds digital and physical product sales, social selling (including WhatsApp), B2B/wholesale workflows, and cart-recovery tools into one platform that ties directly into Zoho’s finance stack. For small businesses, the pitch is faster setup, fewer logins, and tighter handoffs from marketing to inventory to accounting.
Key Takeaways for Small Businesses
- Sell digital downloads alongside physical products, and manage the full order lifecycle in one place.
- New social selling options include WhatsApp, letting shoppers browse a catalog from your business profile, add to cart, and jump to your store’s checkout.
- B2B/wholesale tools support quote requests, price negotiations, and customer credit limits.
- Expanded cart-abandonment tracking and recovery help plug revenue leaks with live cart visibility and automated follow-ups.
- iOS and Android apps let owners monitor and manage orders on the go; loyalty programs are supported.
- Over 15 new templates speed up store creation and refreshes.
Zoho’s broader value proposition here is integration. Commerce connects with Zoho Inventory for stock control, Zoho Books for accounting, and popular payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net. That means product listings, taxes, invoices, and shipping labels can flow without manual export/import—reducing the copy/paste risk that leads to delays and errors as order volume grows. For very small teams, that cohesion can be the difference between a same-day shipment and a customer support apology.
On the marketing side, the social-selling push matters. With WhatsApp support, a buyer can view your catalog from your business profile, add items to a cart, and be handed off to your storefront to complete checkout. For sellers already fielding inquiries on messaging apps, this closes the “DM to purchase” gap without forcing a channel switch halfway through the conversation. Zoho also documents a native WhatsApp connection for order notifications, which can reduce “where’s my package?” contacts.
The cart-recovery updates address a persistent pain point: shoppers who bail before payment. Zoho Commerce now tracks carts in real time—including “failed” carts when payments error out—and lets you re-engage prospects with configurable nudges or manual triggers. Pair that with audience segmentation in Zoho’s marketing tools and you can target reminders, discounts, or free-shipping offers to the right cohort instead of blasting everyone.
B2B sellers get overdue attention. Request-for-Quote and negotiated pricing workflows move conversations out of email threads and into the storefront, while early-access credit-limit controls help keep receivables in check. If you already use Zoho Books or Inventory, those limits and approvals are part of a single source of truth, reducing month-end reconciliation chaos. For distributors or wholesalers that still take orders by PDF, this is a practical on-ramp to a digital customer portal.
Mobile management is increasingly table stakes, and Zoho checks that box with native apps. Owners can track orders, initiate outreach, and—importantly for retention—run loyalty programs that reward repeat purchases. If you run pop-ups, markets, or a van-based delivery operation, having operational controls in your pocket helps you move faster without waiting to get back to a laptop.
There are trade-offs to weigh. Consolidating on a single vendor simplifies operations, but it also concentrates your risk in one ecosystem; if you rely on niche third-party apps, confirm there’s an integration or workaround. B2B features like credit limits and negotiated quotes are still maturing (credit limits are marked early access), so check whether your edge cases—split shipments, multi-warehouse routing, or complex approval chains—are supported today. WhatsApp commerce flows vary by region and require a Business account; expect some setup and policy compliance work before you can turn it on. And while templates speed launch, meaningful storefront differentiation still demands time spent on theme customization, photography, and copy.
For many small teams, though, the operational upside is tangible: one login, one data model, and fewer brittle connections between your catalog, marketing, inventory, and books. As one merchant put it on Zoho’s site, “Zoho Commerce is an excellent ecommerce platform for our growth. It’s a world-class product at an affordable price.” If your current stack feels like a patchwork, this release is a timely moment to evaluate whether a more unified approach will save time and recover revenue.
