Pinterest launches new suite of retail-friendly features

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Mar 7, 2019

With so many using Pinterest to put together pin boards of their fashion goals, the social network has decided to take steps to make its platform more conveniently shoppable. 

On Monday, Pinterest announced the rollout of several new features to smooth the transition between pin and purchase. For shoppers, the platform now offers browsable sections of in-stock products sorted by brand, additional shoppable recommendations on style, home, beauty and DIY boards, and a new search feature specifically for those looking to shop on the platform. 

These updates serve to boost the efficiency of the platform's "product pins," or pins that provide consumer-friendly information on the items shown, including price and links to e-commerce platforms for purchase. 

On the business end, Pinterest now gives retailers the opportunity to upload their full catalog to the platform, allowing for a fuller range of product pins, while a new dashboard lets businesses strategically organize their feed for customer pinners.

Additionally, all businesses on the platform can now access shopping ads through Pinterest's Ads Manager tool, giving brands and retailers the opportunity to promote items from their existing product feed to the platform's wide audience (77.4 million in the U.S. alone as of 2018, according to emarketer). 

These commerce-friendly updates are the latest in Pinterest's efforts to become a more attractive platform to retailers as it reportedly prepares for an IPO.