What Shopping Features Does Pinterest Have For Retailers?

In an ongoing quest to become top dog in the land of social media, Pinterest has rolled out two new innovative ways for consumers to shop their favorite brands, this time to the tune of browsable catalogs and personalized shopping ideas.

What Will Pinterest’s New Shopping Features Look Like?

The first of Pinterest’s new shopping features introduces browsable catalogs placed alongside Pins. These catalogs post product prices front and center, allowing users to easily navigate their shopping from within the Pinterest app itself. By scrolling under a Product Pin and tapping on the "More from the brand" button, users will be directed to the brand's browsable catalog, which clearly shows each product's price and allows consumers to scroll through similar products from the chosen brand. When shoppers click on an item, they are taken to the retailer's website, where they can make a direct purchase. Pinterest’s catalogs are making it even easier for consumers to browse through multiple offerings from brands across the board.

But wait, there’s more! In addition to the clever catalog idea, Pinterest is also giving users’ home feeds an update by adding personalized hubs of shoppable ideas marked "Picked for You” at the top of each homepage. These suggestions are based solely on the items and brands users pin most often. Each hub also links back to browsable catalogs that display in-stock items from a specific brand or items related to a specific style.

Why Is Pinterest Adding New Shopping Features To Its Platform?

As Pinterest continues to remain a go-to spot for shopping and style inspiration, the social platform has made a conscious effort to create tools that make the app more shoppable for users and introduce a more customized experience overall. The new browsable catalogs and personalized shopping ideas compliment the image-driven experience that Pinterest provides its users, ultimately creating a more pleasant and efficient process for all parties involved.

Plus, the Pinterest shopping updates are enticing for retailers, as the browsable catalogs and custom shopping features provide even more opportunities to reach potential consumers who are shopping on Pinterest with the hopes of discovering new brands and products.

How Do Pinterest’s New Shopping Features Affect Digital Marketers?

Pinterest’s new shopping features come on the heels of a recent multi-touch attribution study from Neustar, which took a deeper look into the effectiveness of digital shopping ads, particularly those on Pinterest. All five of the participating U.S. retail brands saw a 2x higher return on ad spend on Pinterest than social media and a 1.3x higher return than on paid search.

The Neustar research also discovered Pinterest was the most efficient digital channel for retail brands, generating higher sales at a lower cost. And while Pinterest ads accounted for just 11% of total media spend for the five brands reviewed, Pinterest produced roughly 18% of incremental sales and revenue for all five of the brands.

The Neustar findings are a clear demonstration of how Pinterest is positively affecting online sales, a trend we have consistently seen from big name brands like Amazon. As Pinterest users are browsing through the app with the goal of finding style ideas and inspiration to purchase, the increase in hopeful buyers creates a gold mine for digital marketers who are looking to gain traffic to their site and get their products in the hands of new consumers.

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