Pinterest has debuted a new way to shop on its platform, introducing “Shop” tabs on its Search function and Pinterest boards so that shoppers can browse in-stock inventory while they either search for products or visit their home décor or fashion board. The company also has updated its visual search capabilities to make more products shoppable from Pins, so that shoppers can hover over a Pin and click “Shop similar” to see related in-stock products.
The new Shop tabs leverage Pinterest’s existing Product Pin technology, which links a Pin directly to the checkout page on the retailer’s e-Commerce web site, encouraging transactions.
The pins are designed to make it easier to discover young brands while bringing traffic to retailers of all sizes, which could be beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic — a time when many small businesses may be struggling to raise their profile.
As part of the changes, retailers must first upload their product feeds through Pinterest’s Catalogs feature, then organize their products into smaller groups and optionally launch ads. In light of COVID-19, Pinterest has been working with SMBs to learn more about their current needs. It has also been releasing a series of resources — like videos and webinars — to help retailers new to Pinterest learn how to list their online products for sale.
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Pinterest noted that since 97% of top searches on the network are unbranded — meaning people come to Pinterest to shop for generic terms without having a specific brand in mind — the tabs can level the playing field for smaller businesses.
For example, searches for “help small businesses” on Pinterest in the last two weeks are up 3X compared to the prior two weeks, while searches for “home office setup” are up by 70% as people look for ideas to furnish their new work-from-home spaces.
The social network shared examples of younger brands that have gained traction on Pinterest lately through the increased searches, including Ruggable, Room & Board, Filson, The Citizenry, Made Trade and Ansel & Ivy.
Pinterest has made a number of changes to become more of a shopping destination during the past year, increasing the number of shoppable Product Pins by 2.5X year-over-year while driving a total increase in traffic to retailers by 2.3X.
The company also is debuting browsable curated style guides that will appear on some searches, such as for home-related terms like “living room ideas.” The guides will serve as visual recommendations and make it possible to explore trending styles and tastes such as “mid-century,” “contemporary” and “rustic,” even when Pinterest visitors don’t have the exact words to describe what they’re looking for.
