Here Are All of the New Shopping, Ad Features Being Introduced at Pinterest Presents

Pinterest is holding its second annual Pinterest Presents global advertiser summit Thursday, and this year’s theme is, “It’s Different Here.” The event is taking place in six countries—Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S.—and Pinterest unveiled several new products in the areas of shopping and advertising. Fashion designer and shopping expert Tan France helped Pinterest introduce Your Shop, which the company described as “a new personal shopping concierge, powered by a taste-driven algorithm.” Pinners will see a customized shopping surface with brands and products surfaced based on their activity and preferences on the platform. Your Shop is currently in beta in the U.S., and Pinterest plans to roll it out there later this year, with more countries to follow. Pinterest said shoppers on its platform outspend those on other platforms by two times every month, urging retailers to upload their catalogs so that their products appear in Your Shop for Pinners. Pinterest director of business marketing for Europe Visha Kudhail told Adweek, “Because of the very nature of the inspiration to action that people have on the platform, it was quite natural for us to launch shopping ads on Pinterest … Video ads are becoming more shoppable, too, and over the course of this year, we're going to actually see a preview of some of the new launches that we're going to be looking at, such as Your Shop, which is your personal shopping concierge, driven by a taste-driven algorithm.” The platform introduced merchant details last October, enabling brands to display values on their profiles such as “inclusive” or “responsibly sourced,” as well as communities they belong to, such as “LGBTQ+ owned.” Pinterest said Thursday that brands with merchant details on their profiles were 16% more likely to make a sale, adding in a blog post, Shopping’s more fun when it’s personal. That’s why we’re also investing in values-based shopping, guiding people to brands that share their sense of purpose or interests.” When Pinners are done shopping, they will soon be able to complete their transactions via Checkout, a native tool available in beta for select Shopify merchants in the U.S., with expansion in that market set for later this year. Checkout enables Pinners to make purchases without leaving the Pinterest application, and the company said its users have been asking for a feature of this type “for a long time.” Pinterest’s new application-programming interface for shopping automates the process of uploading and updating catalogs, instantly reflecting events such as seasonal sales or items going out of stock. Kudhail told Adweek, “One of the fantastic things about Pinterest that I personally really love is the fact that businesses of all sizes have an equal chance. So, being able to use shopping APIs means uploading your product and scaling with efficiency, and scale is going to be really incredible to offer various different businesses.” Viktor&Rolf Fragrances was one of the early brands to test Pinterest’s Idea Ads with paid partnership, in which creators on the platform can tag a business that sponsors them to create an Idea Pin with paid partnership, and the business then promotes the Idea Pin to create an Idea Ad with paid partnership. Pinterest said Pinners who interact with Idea Pins have higher conversion rates than Pinterest users in general, adding that Idea Ads with paid partnership will become more widely available later this year. The company shared highlights from its Pinterest Predicts advance look at potential trends for 2022, adding that its Pinterest Trends tool is adding more features in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., including more granular audience tools, personalized recommendations for businesses, real-time search data and more trend types. Pinterest Trends will debut in additional countries sometime in 2022. Kudhail told Adweek, “We are in a cookieless environment, and businesses and marketers are constantly thinking about how they've got to target their audiences, so the Trends tool is going to really help marketers think about more specific audience targeting tools and using our powerful trends and insights to reach audiences in various different ways.” Pinterest chief marketing officer Andréa Mallard shared insights about the role of inspiration in online environments, noting that 97% of the top searches on Pinterest are unbranded, meaning that people come to the platform and don’t know exactly what they’re looking for, but make decisions while using it. She added that Pinterest drives 10 times more branded searches than other platforms because “it takes people from inspiration to realization.” Mallard said nearly one-half of roughly 9,000 consumers across seven markets who responded to a Pinterest survey said an online place devoted to inspiration is more important now than ever before. Pinterest chief revenue officer Bill Watkins said in a statement, “Our 2022 vision and product roadmap shows how we’re focused on growing an inspired content and shopping ecosystem to effectively move consumers from inspiration to realization.” Lisa Lacy contributed to this report.

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Here Are All of the New Shopping, Ad Features Being Introduced at Pinterest Presents

Your Shop is 'a new personal shopping concierge, powered by a taste-driven algorithm'

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