From walk-in to a contact you can message
Every retail store already has traffic it paid for, rent is the most expensive customer-acquisition channel there is. What most stores don't have is a second visit. The customer who bought a kurta in October has no reason to remember you in December unless something reminds her, and hoping she walks past again is not a plan.
The fix is a small change at billing:
- A QR code on the counter that opens a WhatsApp chat with your store. "Scan for 10% off your next visit" gets scanned
- The customer sends the pre-filled hello, and that's a recorded opt-in with a name and number attached. Growcord tags the new contact automatically. You can add tags like ethnic-wear or Kids Section based on what they bought, and from then on that customer is reachable. Print the same QR on bills, carry bags and the shop's Instagram bio
- Our QR code generator makes one in seconds
A pamphlet in a newspaper reaches a locality; an SMS reaches a folder nobody opens and can't be answered. A WhatsApp message reaches a named customer who bought from you eight weeks ago, carries a photo of the actual rack it's about, and can be replied to "do you have this in medium?" starts a sale instead of ending a broadcast.
Festival offers on WhatsApp that fill the store
Indian retail runs on festivals, Diwali, Rakhi, Eid, Pongal, wedding season, and festival campaigns are where a broadcast earns its keep. The pattern that works is a photo of real stock, a specific offer, a deadline, and a reason to come in person: "Show this message at the counter" turns a broadcast into foot traffic you can count at billing.
Send to segments, not the whole list. The sari buyers get the silk collection preview; the parents who bought school shoes in June get the kids' festive range. Growcord's broadcast tool sends to tags, schedules for the right evening, and reports delivery and reads per campaign, so by the second festival you know exactly which offers moved people.
What a store runs on Growcord
QR opt-in at billing
A counter QR turns each buyer into an opted-in WhatsApp contact, tagged by what they shop for.
Festival and sale broadcasts
Scheduled campaigns with photos of real stock, sent to the segment each offer fits, with delivery and read reports.
New arrival alerts
Fresh stock lands, a photo goes to the customers who buy that category. The best pieces sell before they reach the display.
Restock messages
Size or item out of stock? Note the customer, alert them the day it's back, a guaranteed visit instead of a lost sale.
Counter-redeemable offers
Show this message for 15% off makes redemption measurable, staff count exactly how many walked in from each campaign.
One number, whole team
The owner and floor staff answer from a shared inbox on the same store number, nobody's personal SIM involved.
Three messages that bring people back
Festival offer. "Diwali collection is in at Roopam Sarees, Kanpur, Banarasi silks from ₹3,499, first look this weekend. Show this message at the counter for 10% off till Sunday. Reply STOP to opt out." Attach three photos of the actual racks, not stock imagery.
Restock alert. "Hi Meena ji, the leheriya dupattas you asked about are back, 12 pieces, and they went fast last time. We can keep one aside till tomorrow evening if you'd like; just reply YES."
Winback. "It's been a while since your last visit to Roopam! Wedding-season stock arrives next week, reply and tell us what you're looking for, and we'll send photos before it hits the floor."
Each of these is an approved template with merge fields for the name and details. Notice the pattern: specific stock, a small commitment (reply YES, come by Sunday), and a human tone. Nothing that reads like a company sent it. More copy patterns in the template examples guide.
Turning one-time buyers into repeat customers
Repeat business is where the numbers compound. A store that collects 20 opt-ins a day has 600 reachable customers in a month and a few thousand within the year, a list you own outright, with no platform between you and it, and no rent to pay for reaching it beyond Meta's per-conversation fee.
Send something worth reading two or three times a month (an offer, a new-arrival preview, a festival greeting with a reason to visit), answer the replies quickly, and the repeat-purchase playbook does the rest. The discipline is restraint: message when there's news, and the list stays warm for years.
Setting it up for a store
Get your store number on the API
Connect a new or existing number to the official WhatsApp Business API through Growcord's guided signup, usually done the same day.
Put the QR at billing
Generate the QR with a welcome offer, print it for the counter, bills and bags. Every scan becomes a tagged, opted-in contact.
Send your first campaign
Once the list has a few hundred contacts, schedule a festival or new-arrival broadcast to the right tags and review the cost estimate before sending.
Count what comes back
Counter redemptions plus the campaign's delivery and reply reports tell you which offers pull. Do more of those.
What it costs a store
Size the plan by how many people you'll message, not by how many contacts you have. Basic at ₹299/month, ₹99/month billed yearly, includes 200 conversations, which is a store still building its list. Once you're broadcasting to 500 customers twice a month, Startup at ₹799/month (₹399 yearly) and its 1,000 conversations is the right tier, with extra blocks of 1,000 at ₹399 if a festival month runs over.
Meta charges per conversation on top, and you pay its published rate exactly, Growcord adds no markup and earns on the subscription. Marketing conversations in India run roughly ₹0.78–0.88, so a 500-customer festival broadcast is about ₹400–450 in Meta fees: pamphlet money, for a message with photos of your actual stock that you know was delivered and read.
The free tier (one number, 50 conversations a month) is enough to set up the QR and test a first small send, and paid plans carry a 7-day unconditional money-back guarantee. Full plans on the pricing page.
Put the QR on your counter this week
Free to start: 1 number, 50 conversations a month. Your Diwali list starts with the next customer who bills.
Start free, no card neededWhy Growcord
What you get here that you don't get elsewhere
Frequently asked questions
How do I collect customers' WhatsApp numbers in my shop legally?
Use a QR code at billing that opens a chat with your store, when the customer scans and sends the hello message, that's a recorded opt-in under Meta's rules. Pair it with a small welcome offer so people want to scan. Avoid typing numbers off the bill book into broadcast lists without asking; consent is what keeps your number healthy.
Can I send Diwali offers to all my customers on WhatsApp?
Yes, to everyone who opted in, via an approved marketing template sent as a broadcast. Growcord schedules it, personalises the name, and reports delivery and reads. Sending to segments (sari buyers, kids-wear parents) works better than one blast, and always include an opt-out line like reply STOP.
Won't customers find store messages annoying?
Not if the messages are worth reading and arrive rarely. Two to four a month, a festival offer, a genuine new-arrival preview, a restock they asked about, keeps a list warm. Daily promotions get you blocked, which also drops your Meta quality rating. The opt-out line in every message is your safety valve: people leave quietly instead of reporting you.
How many customers can a retail store message per day?
New API numbers start with Meta's base tier of 1,000 unique customers per 24 hours, and the limit grows automatically to 10,000 and beyond as you send with good quality. For a single store collecting opt-ins at the counter, the starting tier is rarely a constraint, it's more capacity than most store lists need for a year.
What does WhatsApp marketing cost for a single store?
Two numbers: a Growcord plan from ₹299/month (₹99/month billed yearly) and Meta's per-conversation fee, which you pay at Meta's published rate with nothing added by us. For a store sending two festival broadcasts a month to a few hundred customers, the whole bill usually sits under ₹1,500 including Meta's share. GST invoices come with every payment, and the subscription has a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Can my staff reply from the same WhatsApp number?
Yes. Growcord gives the store number a shared team inbox, the owner and floor staff log in with their own accounts and answer customer replies from the same number, on desktop or phone. Extra team members are ₹149/month each, and you can see who replied to what.
Why businesses pick Growcord
Official WhatsApp Business API
Built on Meta's Cloud API, the sanctioned channel, not a modded app. No number-ban roulette.
Indian pricing, GST invoice
Plans from ₹99/month billed yearly. Paid in ₹ via Razorpay, with a proper GST invoice every time.
Free tier, no card needed
1 number and 50 conversations a month to prove it on real customers before paying anything.
Support from New Delhi, in IST
A real team on email and WhatsApp, Monday to Saturday 10:00–19:00 IST, not a ticket void.
Talk to us
Get set up on WhatsApp this week
Tell us what you sell and how many customers you message. We'll reply on WhatsApp with the plan that fits and, if you want it, walk you through the Meta approval step.
- No sales call unless you ask for one
- Answers from the team that builds it, in IST hours
- Free tier available. You can start before you decide
Documentation and official resources
Keep reading
Related guides and comparisons
Last updated: 2026-08-07