How Indian WhatsApp Influencers Find Brand Deals in Nepal

In the past few years, Indian influencers have used WhatsApp to market goods and services to customers across the world. Influencer marketing in India is a booming industry, and WhatsApp is the platform that’s helping influencers reach new customers abroad.

Nepal is a particularly attractive market for India-based WhatsApp influencers due to its geographical proximity and growing demand for Indian products and services, as well as the ease with which they can enter the market.

🌍 Nepal’s Growing Market for Indian Goods

Nepal is a tiny Himalayan nation located on India’s northern border. The country is home to approximately 29 million people, most of whom reside along the southern plains that make up the region known as Terai, which shares its border with the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Over the past few years, demand for Indian goods and services in Nepal has surged, particularly in Terai, where consumers share a cultural and linguistic affinity with their Indian neighbors.

According to data from Nepal’s Department of Customs, India accounted for 65 percent of all imports—worth $756 million—last year alone. India is also the largest investor and trading partner of Nepal, accounting for 38 percent of total foreign investments and 66 percent of total trade, mainly through the import of Indian products.

As such, Nepali consumers are increasingly looking to Indian businesses to meet their daily needs, which has presented a lucrative opportunity for Indian influencers to enter the market through the use of WhatsApp.

📲 Why WhatsApp?

The popularity of WhatsApp as a commerce platform in India is a phenomenon unto itself. WhatsApp is the most widely used social media app in India, and it has grown into a powerful marketplace that has allowed influencers to market everything from groceries to vehicles.

“WhatsApp has become the go-to app for marketing products and services in India,” says Mukesh Yadav, an influencer based in India. “Because of its popularity, it has also become the primary means of communication between influencers and their clients when it comes to brand deals.”

Umesh Yadav, a marketing executive from Nepal, explains that WhatsApp is particularly well suited for cross-border commerce, particularly for Nepali consumers.

“Nepalis who want to buy Indian goods typically rely on Indian intermediaries to facilitate their purchases,” he says. “WhatsApp is an ideal platform for these transactions, as it allows Nepalis to communicate directly with Indian merchants and influencers.”

WhatsApp also offers features that make it easy to conduct business transactions. Influencers can create catalogs to showcase their products, share photos and videos, and communicate directly with customers using voice and video calls.

💰 How to Get Brand Deals

Nepali consumers who want to buy Indian products typically rely on influencers to facilitate their purchases. Influencers can share catalog links that allow customers to browse products, along with pricing and shipping information, and make purchases directly through the app.

Influencers can secure brand deals with Indian merchants or manufacturers by using the same techniques they would typically use on other platforms like Instagram or Facebook.

Mukesh Yadav explains that influencers can reach out to merchants directly through WhatsApp, or they can join groups that connect merchants with influencers. WhatsApp groups can be used to facilitate bulk orders where multiple influencers come together to purchase a merchant’s products at a discounted price, which they will then sell to their own customers.

“The key to landing brand deals on WhatsApp is networking,” says Mukesh Yadav. “Influencers can find groups on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, and from there, they can join WhatsApp groups that typically have a large number of merchants looking for influencers.”

📝 Join Groups, Make Connections

For influencers, joining WhatsApp groups is a great way to learn about new products. Influencers often use groups to post reviews and unboxing videos, and to announce giveaways to their followers.

Groups often have a specific focus, such as electronics or cosmetics, and they can be found on various platforms. Groups often have a limited number of available slots, which creates a sense of urgency for influencers who want to join.

“Nepali influencers can find group links on social media platforms,” explains Mukesh Yadav. “They can also find group links on various websites that cater specifically to influencers.”

While joining groups can be a great way to land brand deals, it’s also important for influencers to establish their own brand.

🌟 Build a Personal Brand to Attract Merchants

Building a personal brand is key to influencer marketing success, and it helps influencers attract brand deals instead of relying solely on joining groups. Influencers can build their own brand by establishing their own social media profiles and positioning themselves as experts in their niche.

Creating engaging content is also important. Influencers can create videos, photos, and testimonials that showcase their products and highlight their benefits. Sharing tutorials on how to use a product is also an effective way to demonstrate its benefits to customers.

Influencers must also have strong communication skills, as they will need to negotiate pricing and shipping with merchants.

🔄 Payment Processing

In addition to networking and showcasing products, influencers must also manage payment processing, which can be a challenge when working with foreign clients.

Indian influencers typically rely on payment platforms such as Paytm or GPay to process payments from brands or merchants that are based in India. Similarly, Nepali influencers will typically rely on local payment platforms such as eSewa or Khalti to process payments from Nepali clients.

While Indian influencers can easily withdraw funds processed through these platforms into their Indian bank accounts, it is much more difficult for Nepali consumers to send money to Indian bank accounts.

💳 How Nepalis Pay Influencers

Nepali consumers can still pay Indian influencers through Indian payment platforms, but they must first deposit funds into an Indian bank account, and then transfer the funds into the payment application.

This process adds an extra step when it comes to purchasing goods through WhatsApp influencers, which is why many Nepali consumers will rely on local influencers who pay Indian influencers to facilitate their purchases.

Nepali influencers can charge their clients a fee for their services, which can be paid using local payment platforms like eSewa or Khalti. In this way, Indian influencers can penetrate the Nepal market while relying on Nepali influencers to manage payments.

🏦 Cross-Border Payments Made Easy

Despite the challenges of cross-border payments, there are payment solutions that can simplify the process for Indian influencers who want to work with Nepali clients.

One such solution is Payoneer, a cross-border payment platform that allows individuals and businesses to send and receive funds globally.

Payoneer also enables users to create and manage multiple accounts in various currencies, which can be useful for Indian influencers who want to work with clients in Nepal and other countries.

Using Payoneer, Indian influencers can receive payments in Indian Rupees from their Nepali clients, which can be deposited directly into their Indian bank accounts.

👮 Regulatory Compliance

While influencer marketing may be a lucrative opportunity for Indian influencers, it’s important to keep in mind that the Nepalese government has strict regulations in place when it comes to foreign business operations.

In July of 2022, Nepal’s Department of Information Technology announced that it would begin enforcing regulations that prohibit foreign companies from operating in the country without the proper licenses.

Indian influencers would likely be classified as foreign companies, and so they would be required to register with Nepal’s Company Registrar and obtain a business permit from the district administration office where they intend to operate.

Indian influencers would also need to pay a license fee of NPR 15,000 ($114) per year, along with income tax of 25 percent on their profits.

❗ The Importance of Legal Compliance

While it may be easy for Indian influencers to penetrate the Nepalese market through WhatsApp, they would be wise to also comply with Nepal’s legal requirements if they want to continue operating without running into trouble.

The good news is that it’s generally a simple process to register as a foreign company in Nepal, and it can all be done online through the website of the Office of the Company Registrar.

👋 Conclusion

As demand for Indian goods and services in Nepal continues to grow, the Nepalese market is likely to become a major target for Indian WhatsApp influencers.

India-based influencers have already begun to penetrate the Nepalese market through WhatsApp, and they are likely to continue doing so, provided they adhere to Nepal’s legal requirements.

The bottom line is that WhatsApp is an effective platform for Indian influencers to connect with Nepali consumers, and it’s likely that this trend will only continue to grow in the years to come.

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