Pinterest Adds Several Shopping Features in the UK, US

Pinterest's theme for Advertising Week this year is “The Great Reboot,” and shopping was the focus of its latest reboot with several updates that were introduced Tuesday. The percentage of Pinners who visited places to shop on the platform was up over 50% in the first half of 2020, the company said, adding in a blog post, “This year, we expect holiday shopping to look different, with mobile commerce poised to reach new heights as people find gifts from home. That’s why this week, we’re rolling out new shopping tools for Pinners and advertisers, bringing us one step closer to our goal of making every Pin shoppable.” In the U.K. and the U.S., Pinterest is bringing ads to three of the most highly trafficked and visible places on its platform: its Lens visual search tool, the shop tab in search and shopping on Pins. Pinterest wrote, “Retailers have been eager to be able to deliver their catalog content within these new Pinner experiences.” Pinterest Verified Merchants and Shopify retailers in the U.S. now have access to conversion insights, showing them the impact of paid and organic Pinterest content on site visits and checkouts and, Pinterest said, “making their shopping efforts not just impactful, but also measurable.” They will be able to analyze performance, view top-performing Pins and turn their best-performing organic Pins into ads, as well as tracking their activity funnel to see how Pinterest users converted on the path to purchase, from page visitors, to Pinners who added to cart, to purchasers. The U.K. is also getting some of the organic shopping products that were recently released in the U.S., including the ability to shop within a home or fashion Pin, shop ideas from their boards and shop via Lens. Shopping Spotlights, curated recommendations under the platform’s search tab, are also being added in the U.K. Pinterest wrote in its blog post, “Instead of walking down New York’s Fifth Avenue to see the holiday windows, holiday inspiration will likely be from the comfort of our own phones. In a year when more people than ever will be shopping online for the holiday, Pinterest can replicate that experience for consumers and retailers through curated collections and visual discovery. We’re building a place to shop online—not just a place to buy.” In other Pinterest shopping news, Crate and Barrel rolled out digital-only catalog Crate and Kids on Pinterest. Crate and Kids showcases “eclectic, elevated spaces,” and Pinterest said searches on its platform for “homeschool room ideas” were up five times in July compared with June, while “basement kids playroom” was up 62%, “kids office” up 162% and “kids spaces” up 33%.