Online store6 min readUpdated By the StockỌja team
How to take orders online without losing track in WhatsApp
Short answer
Give customers one link where they can see what is in stock, choose options, pay and place the order themselves, and keep every order in one queue with a clear status. Keep chatting with customers, but let the link handle prices, stock and payment, so nothing depends on scrolling back through messages.
Why orders get lost in chats
Chat selling is personal and it works, up to a point. Then the same item is promised to two people, a customer says they paid but the screenshot does not match an alert, an order from Tuesday is buried under fifty new messages, and nobody remembers the agreed price. None of these is a people problem. They happen because a chat is a conversation, not an order system.
What an online order needs
- The exact item and option (size, colour, length).
- The price, including any discount.
- Whether it is paid, and how.
- Where and when the customer will receive it.
- A status everyone can see: waiting, confirmed, ready, collected.
- Stock held for the customer so it is not sold to someone else.
Moving from DMs to a store link
- 1
Publish your products
Put your range in an online store with real prices and stock. Start with best sellers if your range is large.
- 2
Answer with links
When a customer asks about an item, send the product link. They see options, stock and price immediately.
- 3
Let them check out
They pay online (card or transfer through a provider like Paystack) or choose pay on pickup.
- 4
Work from the order queue
New orders arrive in one list. Confirm, prepare, mark ready, hand over.
- 5
Keep the chat for service
Questions, advice and thank-yous still happen in chat, without the bookkeeping.
A daily routine for online orders
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Morning | Confirm overnight orders and prepare them |
| Midday | Mark prepared orders ready; customers are notified |
| Afternoon | Hand over collected orders with the pickup code |
| Closing | Check nothing is stuck as waiting; follow up with anyone who has not collected |
How this works in StockỌja
In StockỌja, an order placed in your store holds the stock and appears in your Orders queue as waiting. You confirm it, mark it ready for pickup (the customer is emailed), and hand it over by checking the customer’s pickup code. The order then counts in your sales next to your counter sales. Selling in Nigeria? See how to create an online store in Nigeria.
Where StockỌja fits
- ProductOnline store Your own storefront on yourname.stockoja.com, selling the stock you already manage, with Paystack or pay on pickup.
- GuideHow to create an online store in Nigeria Products, photos, payments, pickup and sharing: a practical setup for selling online as a Nigerian small business.
- SolutionWigs and hair Length, texture and colour as variants, high-value units counted exactly, orders taken online for pickup.
- SolutionFashion and boutiques Sizes and colours as variants, new arrivals online the day they land, and a till that knows what fits.
- SolutionFor businesses in Nigeria Naira pricing, cash, transfer and POS-terminal payments, WhatsApp-led selling, Paystack and multi-branch shops.
- ProductSales tracking Every sale from the counter and the online store, by day, branch, payment method and product, with gross profit.