WhatsApp vs email: what a national wholesaler’s weekly promo tells us

A national UK wholesaler’s weekly promotion on WhatsApp is getting around 13% of the retailers who receive it clicking through to an offer. The average for B2B email is about 3%. We looked at two recent weeks of the same campaign to see how the two channels compare on like-for-like terms.

The campaign

Every Sunday evening the wholesaler sends its Monday deals to independent retailers over WhatsApp, using ProConnect. The list is split into five groups so each retailer sees offers relevant to them, with a separate tracked link per group.

We took two sends from this summer, for 22 June and 3 August 2026. Each went to just over 21,000 retailers. We counted every click on the offer links against the number of messages sent.

The numbers

Both weeks landed at around 13% of messages delivered — four times the B2B email average, measured the same way.

Email benchmarks are measured against emails delivered, so we’ve used the same basis for WhatsApp. Counted against every message sent, including those that never reached a handset, the WhatsApp figure is still about 9% — three times the email average. Benchmarks from Prospeo’s 2026 industry roundup.

The gap is not just reach. Around half of retailers read the WhatsApp message, against a roughly one-in-five open rate for B2B email — more than twice the readership. But those readers also act more: about one in four clicks through to the offer, against about one in seven for email. WhatsApp wins on both reach and engagement, and the two multiply — that is what takes it to four times email’s click-through, not reach alone.

Why WhatsApp does better with trade buyers

• It’s where retailers already are. Independent shop owners run their day from their phone. WhatsApp is open; a work inbox often isn’t.
• It’s read quickly. Most retailers who open the message do so the same evening or the next morning, in time for Monday’s buying.
• It isn’t fighting a crowded inbox. No spam folder, no promotions tab, no dozens of other supplier newsletters alongside it.
• The offer is one tap away. Each group gets its own link straight to the deals, so there’s nothing to search for.

What to bear in mind

This is two weeks of one campaign, set against industry-wide averages, so treat it as a strong signal rather than a final word. The link counts are total clicks, while email platforms usually report unique clickers. We’re tracking more weeks and moving to unique-click reporting so future comparisons are exactly like-for-like.

The takeaway

If your weekly offers go out by email, a large share of your customers may never see them. WhatsApp puts the same offer in front of retailers where they actually look, and four times as many act on it.

ProConnect runs WhatsApp campaigns like this for wholesalers and FMCG brands across the UK. Book a demo to see what it could do for your trade customers.