Pinterest is adding four new features focusing on boosting their e-commerce functionality. The idea is to turn Pinterest into a social shopping platform that users would be able to gather ideas or products that resonate with them. They would then be able to purchase those items directly through Pinterest. These four new updates will help businesses boost their online sales by utilizing their presence on Pinterest.
The four new updates to Pinterest includes:
Buyable Pins:
Previously only available for iPhone and iPad users, Pinterest is bringing buyable pins to the web. Pinterest understands that about 80% of users come from mobile, but with 10 million products currently available for purchase on Pinterest, there is definitely a market for desktop users. We expect to see more products available to purchase on desktop soon.
Visual Search:
It is estimated that 130 million visual searches are conducted every month on Pinterest. The upgrade to visual search now allows users to click on the visual search icon; within the search, users will be able to select additional visual icons by clicking on individual dots that will lead the user to a similar pin.
New Shopping Bag:
Pinterest now lets users add multiple products from different merchants to their own shopping cart. This process is similar to how Amazon allows the user to purchase products from multiple sellers but pay for all the items in one complete order.
New Merchant Profiles:
The new merchant profiles will make it easier for users to discover new products that the merchant would like to feature, that are on sale, or a popular product for the season.