WhatsApp users can now find and contact businesses without leaving the app, Meta has announced.

The parent company of WhatsApp and Facebook said users will be able to search for the company by name rather having to find the phone number. Users can also browse for businesses by category.

The service has been launched in Brazil, Indonesia, Columbia, Mexico and the UK.

Meta said that they eventually want people to be able to buy products and services through the app via credit or debit card. This has been trialled in India and Meta is currently testing the feature in Brazil.

“People want a convenient way to quickly find the businesses they’re looking for among the millions of small businesses and tens of thousands of brands already on WhatsApp,” said Meta.

The company added: “We’ve built business search in a way that protects people’s privacy, and what you search for is processed in a way that cannot be linked back to your account.”

WhatsApp recently experienced an international outage which saw users around the world reporting issues when trying to send messages on the app.

Earlier this month, Meta announced plans to cut around 13 per cent of its workforce, after founder Mark Zuckerberg said the surge in e-commerce did not play out in the way that he had expected.

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