A brochure site ends in “contact us for price”. A Catafy catalogue knows who the buyer is, shows their rate, enforces minimums, tells you they are browsing, and takes the order — from a link opened in WhatsApp.
No card required. Custom domain with free SSL included. Live the same day, no agency.
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Catafy is a selling tool: public, private or semi-private catalogues, price lists per buyer, MOQ and MOA, OTP access with approval, live visitor tracking, notifications on WhatsApp, SMS, email and push — plus a theme builder, landing page builder and custom domain for the public pages.
Comparison
A traditional website is a public brochure: the same pages and prices (or no prices) for everyone, updated by a developer, with a contact form where the order should be. It builds credibility; it does not close trade orders.
One price — or no price — for retailers, distributors and competitors alike. The real rate card lives in a PDF or a rep’s phone.
Anonymous analytics tell you visits, not which buyer spent four minutes on the new range and left without ordering.
A contact form or a “WhatsApp us” button turns every enquiry into a photo exchange and a manually typed confirmation.
Prices drift out of date because updating the site is a ticket, not a tap.
Public for discovery, private or semi-private for trade — with OTP verification and seller approval on the locked ones.
Retailer, distributor and export rates on one product master; each buyer sees only their own rate card.
Minimums per product and per order enforced when the buyer orders.
See which buyer is on which product right now, plus sessions, drop-offs and abandoned-cart value.
WhatsApp via Whaaty from your own number, plus SMS, email and push — configured in one place.
Theme builder, landing page builder, custom domain with free SSL, and white-label Android / iOS / web apps.
01
A website and a digital catalogue are not the same thing, even when they show the same products. A website is a public brochure: the same pages, the same prices (or no prices), for everyone who lands on it. A Catafy catalogue is a selling tool: it knows who the buyer is, shows them their price, enforces minimums, tells you they are browsing, and takes the order — all from a link opened in WhatsApp. For an Indian wholesaler, manufacturer or distributor, the second is what closes trade orders; the first is what looks good in a search result. Many businesses keep both.
| If you need… | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A public presence for search engines and credibility | Website (or Catafy public catalogue) | Static pages, about, contact, SEO content |
| Different prices for different buyers | Catafy | Price lists per buyer group behind OTP |
| To keep prices and designs away from competitors | Catafy | Private and semi-private catalogues with seller approval |
| MOQ / minimum order amount | Catafy | Enforced at checkout |
| To know which buyer is viewing which product right now | Catafy | Live visitor tracking by buyer |
| Orders from a WhatsApp link with automatic confirmations | Catafy | OTP, two-tap order, Whaaty automation |
| To update prices once and have every buyer see it | Catafy | One product master; no developer needed |
02
A traditional business website is built for broad, anonymous traffic. It answers “who are you and what do you make?” well. It answers “what is my price, what is the minimum, and how do I order?” badly — because it does not know who is asking. Updating it usually means a developer or an agency, so product pages drift out of date and the real price list lives in a PDF or a WhatsApp message anyway.
Catafy is built for known buyers. A catalogue can be public, private or semi-private. Trade buyers verify by OTP and see the price list assigned to their group; MOQ and minimum order amount apply at checkout; live analytics show which account is on which product; and order updates go out from your own WhatsApp number with SMS, email and push as extra channels. Products are edited once, by you, and every shared link is current. A theme builder, landing page builder and custom domain cover the brochure job too.
03
A wholesaler’s website typically shows products without prices and a “contact us for rates” button — which means every enquiry becomes a chat, every chat becomes a photo exchange, and the real catalogue is the sales rep’s phone. Catafy removes that loop: the retailer opens the link from WhatsApp, verifies, sees their rate card, orders sets and quantities with MOQ inline, and gets an automatic confirmation.
04
Manufacturers want the website for credibility and the catalogue for dealers. The problem is when the website becomes the catalogue: every new design is public the moment it is uploaded, at no price or one price, with no way to know which dealer looked. On Catafy a new range goes first to approved dealers as a private catalogue at dealer rates, access approvals go out on WhatsApp automatically, and live tracking shows who engaged. The public website — or a Catafy public catalogue — shows the range later, when you choose.
05
A distributor’s website is usually a list of brands and a contact form. Retailers do not order from it. Catafy gives the distributor several catalogues from one inventory, collections per route or season, team seats for reps, per-segment pricing, live visitor tracking across the team, and automated confirmations on WhatsApp, SMS, email and push — the ordering channel the website never was.
06
What Catafy includes, and what to ask about your current or proposed website. Most of the right-hand column requires custom development on a website.
| Feature | Catafy | On a traditional website |
|---|---|---|
| Public pages for search and credibility | ✓ public catalogue, theme and landing page builder, custom domain | ✓ — core strength |
| Catalogue modes | Public, private, semi-private | Public only, or a password page |
| Buyer-specific price lists | ✓ per buyer or group | Custom development |
| OTP access with seller approval | ✓ | Custom development |
| MOQ and minimum order amount at checkout | ✓ | Custom development |
| Ordering from the catalogue | ✓ two-tap, with variants and sets | Contact form or cart plugin |
| Live visitor tracking by buyer | ✓ | Anonymous analytics only |
| WhatsApp automation from your own number | ✓ via Whaaty | Manual, or a chat widget |
| Notifications: SMS, email, push | ✓ centrally configured | Email from the form, if that |
| Update products without a developer | ✓ | Depends on the CMS |
| Android, iOS and web app for buyers | ✓ white-label | Separate project |
| Payments | Razorpay, PayU, PhonePe, PayPal, Ziina + proof upload | Plugin or custom |
| Shipping | ✓ Shiprocket | Plugin or custom |
| POS and invoicing | ✓ Scale plan | Separate software |
| Screenshot protection | ✓ | No |
| Bulk Excel import with images | ✓ | Depends on the CMS |
| AI product photo enhancement | ✓ AI Studio | No |
| Time to launch | Same day | Weeks, with an agency |
07
On a website a trade buyer browses, guesses at the price, and sends a WhatsApp message asking for rates. On a Catafy catalogue the same buyer opens the link from WhatsApp, verifies by OTP, sees their own rate card, orders with MOQ warnings inline, and receives a confirmation from your business number — in under a minute, on a phone. Both run in the browser; the Catafy branded app is optional.
Send your website link and a Catafy catalogue link to two real retailers and see which one produces an order.
08
You do not have to choose. Many businesses keep a brochure website for search and credibility and link its “Catalogue” or “Trade login” button to Catafy. Others map their domain to Catafy and use the theme builder and landing page builder for the public pages, so one platform does both jobs. Either way the trade ordering happens in Catafy, where prices, minimums and follow-up are controlled.
09
Migration is mostly about product data and deciding who sees which price — the question a website never asked. The onboarding call included on every plan covers the import.
Pull product names, codes, categories and prices from the website CMS or your sheet, and collect images by product code.
Decide who sees which rate — retailer, distributor, export — and the MOQ for each. A website never asked; Catafy does.
Map columns, import with images and attributes, and check variants and prices on a sample.
Keep a public catalogue for discovery, and add OTP-gated private or semi-private catalogues for trade pricing.
Link your WhatsApp Business number via Whaaty, choose SMS, email and push events, and connect Razorpay, PayU or PhonePe.
Map your custom domain to Catafy with free SSL, or keep the brochure site and link its “Catalogue” button to Catafy.
10
Catafy pricing is flat and public. Every plan includes unlimited orders, online payments with zero transaction fees from Catafy, and a 7-day free trial with no card required. Prices below are per month on annual billing, exclusive of 18% GST. Mobile, email and WhatsApp OTP login options for buyers are included on Growth and Scale; Starter uses a single login type.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | ₹499 / month | 10 catalogues, 500 products, unlimited orders, 1 team member, single login type, private cataloguing, basic analytics, free onboarding call |
| Growth | ₹1,199 / month | 20 catalogues, 1,200 products, unlimited orders, 5 team members, mobile / email / WhatsApp OTP login, product variations, advanced analytics, dedicated support |
| Scale | ₹2,199 / month | Unlimited catalogues, products and team members, invoicing + POS, advanced analytics, dedicated support |
A custom website carries an agency build, hosting, and a developer for every product or price change — and still does not take trade orders. Compare that annual total against a flat Catafy plan that includes the catalogue, ordering, analytics, automation and a custom domain with free SSL.
Full plan details and the feature matrix are on the Catafy pricing page.
11
If your business does not sell products to trade buyers — a service company, a consultancy, a factory that sells only through one large contract — a brochure website does the job and a catalogue platform is the wrong tool. If you sell products to businesses and the website currently ends in “contact us for price”, it is not enough.
12
If the honest answers describe a brochure that ends in a phone call, Catafy will change how you sell. Keep the website for what it is good at.
| Feature | Catafy | Traditional Website |
|---|---|---|
| Static information pages | Theme + landing page builder | ✓ |
| Public / private / semi-private catalogue modes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Buyer-specific product and price sharing | ✓ | ✗ |
| OTP access with seller approval | ✓ | ✗ |
| MOQ and MOA at checkout | ✓ | ✗ |
| Assisted B2B order flow | ✓ | ✗ |
| Live buyer activity by account | ✓ | ✗ |
| WhatsApp-first sharing | ✓ | Limited |
| WhatsApp automation from your own number (Whaaty) | ✓ | ✗ |
| SMS, email and push notifications | ✓ | Limited |
| Update products without a developer | ✓ | Depends on CMS |
| Custom domain with free SSL | ✓ | ✓ |
| Branded Android, iOS and web app | ✓ | ✗ |
| Razorpay, PayU, PhonePe + payment-proof upload | ✓ | Plugin / custom |
| POS and invoicing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Screenshot protection | ✓ | ✗ |
| Live the same day | ✓ | ✗ |
A website earns credibility and search traffic. It does not know your buyer, their price or their minimum, and it does not take the order. Catafy does — from a WhatsApp link, with automatic confirmations — and can host the public pages too.
Not necessarily. Catafy’s theme builder, landing page builder and custom domain with free SSL cover the public pages. Many businesses keep an existing brochure site and link its catalogue button to Catafy.
Yes. Price lists per buyer or buyer group, shown after OTP verification and seller approval. A traditional website shows one price to everyone.
Yes — sets, variants and quantities with MOQ warnings inline, confirmed automatically on WhatsApp from your business number, with SMS, email and push as extra channels.
Yes. Live visitor tracking shows which buyer is on which product, with sessions, drop-offs and abandoned-cart value — not just anonymous traffic.
Yes. Self-serve custom domain mapping with free auto-renewing SSL.
Yes. Export or compile them into Excel and use Catafy’s bulk import with images and attributes. Onboarding help is included on every plan.
Every plan includes a 7-day free trial with the full feature set. No card required.
Most businesses import products and share a locked catalogue the same day — no agency or developer.
Public catalogues and landing pages are indexable and run on your own domain. For a content-heavy brochure site, keep it and link to Catafy for ordering.
Import your products, set buyer-specific prices and share an OTP-locked catalogue on WhatsApp this week. 7-day free trial, no card, no agency.
Start 7-Day Free TrialOur experts will guide you on how to use Catafy for your specific business — completely free, no strings attached.
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