Stop Getting Enquiries When You're Closed: Live Business Hours & Open Badge

If you run a business that doesn't operate 24/7 — which is most businesses — you've probably had this experience:

A customer messages you at 11pm on a Sunday expecting an immediate response. They don't get one. By Monday morning, they've found someone else or left a slightly passive-aggressive review about slow response times.

This isn't a customer service failure. It's an expectations failure. And it's entirely fixable.

What the Live Business Hours Powerup Does

It adds two things to your Whizzly storefront:

1. The Live Open/Closed Badge

A real-time indicator in your storefront header that shows customers at a glance whether you're currently open or closed.

• 🟢 Open — with your current day's hours displayed
• 🔴 Closed — with a message indicating when you next open
• 🟡 Closing Soon — triggers 30 minutes before your closing time

2. Full Weekly Hours Display

A clean, formatted breakdown of your opening hours by day, accessible from your storefront footer or a dedicated section. Customers can see your full week at a glance without having to Google you or navigate away.

Setting Custom Closed Dates

Beyond regular weekly hours, you can set:

• Bank holiday closures: Pre-populate UK bank holidays with one click
• Custom date overrides: Mark specific dates as closed (Christmas, annual leave, stock taking) or with modified hours
• Holiday banners: Announce closures proactively with an Announcement Banner (covered separately)

The WhatsApp Order Handling During Closed Hours

When a customer attempts to initiate a WhatsApp checkout while your shop is marked as closed, you can configure one of three behaviours:

1. Show a friendly closed message: "We're closed right now but we open tomorrow at 9am — your cart is saved!"
2. Allow orders but flag them: Orders come through but are automatically tagged "Out of Hours — Schedule Review" in your dashboard
3. Full checkout block: No orders processed outside business hours (useful for food businesses where orders need immediate kitchen attention)

Why This Builds Trust

Transparency about your availability is a trust signal. When customers can clearly see "Open Mon–Sat, 9am–6pm" displayed honestly on your storefront, it tells them:

• This is a real business with real hours
• I know when I can expect a reply
• This merchant respects my time enough to be upfront about theirs

It also cuts down on the admin burden of responding to "are you open?" messages throughout the day.

Activation

Dashboard → Powerups → Live Business Hours & Open Badge. Set your weekly schedule, configure out-of-hours behaviour, and toggle it live.

Included free on all Whizzly plans.