Pinterest will officially introduce a new group of tools on Thursday that will improve the shopping experience on the site. The new tools will make the site more useful for merchants and retailers – and in turn create a better shopping experience for users.
“Our vision for shopping is to make it possible to buy everything Pinners are inspired by on the platform,” Pinterest SVP of engineering Jeremy King said in a statement.
Pinterest has been around as an image-sharing and social media site since 2009, but lately it’s been focusing more on commerce. In recent years, various trends and technologies have rapidly changed the way people shop online. Pinterest should be able to respond to these changes. For example, shopping has become more social.
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Pinterest is already making progress in this area. In 2021, the number of ‘pinners’ dealing with retail surfaces on the site grew by more than 215%. Meanwhile, the company says 89% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration on their purchase path.
Pinterest has made some major strides in this area in recent weeks. Just the company have acquired THE YES, an AI-powered fashion shopping platform that allows people to buy a personalized feed. And late last month, Pinterest named online commerce expert Bill Ready as its new CEO†
The new tools announced on Thursday create a more advanced experience for merchants.
First, the new API for Shopping merchants gives merchants new capabilities for catalog management and access to product metadata. With this information, sellers can provide buyers with more accurate information about the price and availability of items. The API for Shopping has led to a 97% accuracy level for pricing and availability data, the company says.
Pinterest also offers a new Pin product tagging feature. The site already offers standalone “product” Pins that customers can use to shop. Pin product tagging now allows merchants to add products from their catalog to scene images, making lifestyle Pins shoppable. In the first tests, Pinners showed a 70% higher purchase intent on product Pins tagged in scene/brand images than standalone product Pins.
Then sellers can add video to their product catalogs. They could use this capability to, for example, Pinners view a product from multiple angles.
Finally, Pinterest is improving the Shopping tab that sellers can add to their business profile. The updated feature makes it easier to manage product groups directly in the Store tab. Sellers can also customize the cover image and descriptions of their product group. There is also an improved mobile interface for a better user experience.