Pinterest Adding More Product Recommendation Tools

Social Media Today reports that Pinterest is pivoting toward e-commerce. It’s adding more updates designed to position itself as a platform for connecting people with things – as opposed to people with people – ahead of its imminent IPO.

Providing more ways to shop is the focus as Pinterest encourages users to view it, not as a social media platform, but a “place for inspiration.” New showcase tools will look at user behaviour and produce “Picked for You” products from retailers like Target, Birdies Slippers, Joybird, The Tie Bar, and Parachute.

Source: Pinterest

As explained by Pinterest:

"As you shop, you’ll see a new personalized shopping hub in your home feed based on your interests and the brands that you engage with the most.".

Is Pinterest now the logical platform for e-commerce?

If you’re a long-time Pinterest user you’ll no doubt have noticed a shift to e-commerce – the platform has largely abandoned its social media roots. New tools like Pinterest Lens and 'Shop the Look' are reinforcing that strategy, and it’s working.

Source: Pinterest

Pinterest can boast – and it does boast – about a recent Neustar study which illustrated that retail brands saw a 2x higher return on spend via Pinterest than from other platforms, and a 1.3x higher return than from traditional search.

Image Source: Pinterest

These are attention-grabbing stats for marketers, but there’s more. Previous data flagged Pinterest as superior at driving purchase intent. It found that a whopping 93% of users visit Pinterest when planning for a purchase.

What do you guys think?

As Pinterest approaches 300 million active users, can marketers afford not to explore its retail potential?

Cover Photo Image: Digital Stand