Pinterest is more than just a place for people to collect ideas for fashion, decoration, and DIY projects; it's a powerful tool to connect retailers to consumers who are excited to discover their products. Pinterest is continuously releasing updates to bridge the gap between consumer ideas and retailers, ready to make those ideas come to life. Businesses large and small are putting significant attention on cultivating a Pinterest Business page that engages interested customers and drives traffic to their websites and shopping portals. As the platform grows, Pinterest continues to release updates and expand features to keep up with growing demand. In late September 2019, Pinterest announced three new updates.

Shop the Look Ads

Currently, Pinterest offers organic Shop the Look Pins to all business accounts in the US and select accounts in Australia, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and a handful of other countries around the globe. Shop the Look Pins allow retailers to tag pins with white dots that can be linked to each item, where Pinterest users can browse the linked retailer products and view similar items and works on mobile and desktop versions of the site.

The organic Shop the Look Pins will be expanded in the US to the new Shop the Look ads. Shop the Look ads allow for up to 25 tags in a single image and new formatting options like product showcases. In a product showcase, four items will be prominently featured with the option of clicking through to see more items in the showcase. These updates are set to roll out in the US in a few months with no indication of when they will be expanded to additional countries.

Business Profiles

Pinterest also announced several new updates to the features included in Business Profiles. The first of these is the availability of a new Shop tab. Now, alongside the Activity and Community tabs just under a business' cover and profile images, there will be the option of a Shop tab. Once clicked, the Shop tab will bring visitors to a dedicated page of products offered for sale. Businesses can arrange products by categories with the same look as Pinterest boards, with each product linking to the retailer's site. This tab will make it even easier to drive traffic to home sites for ease of purchase.

Another exciting feature being added to Business Profiles is the ability to add customised videos to the cover image, making profiles more dynamic and engaging. With the new video feature for covers, businesses have even more creative flexibility to showcase featured items or set the tone for the brand to more fully engage with customers.

Pinterest's announcement also made mention of an updated messaging feature, but did not go into specifics on what changes would be implemented, but explained that these features would make customer support and feedback quicker and more streamlined.

Catalogues are Expanding

Catalogues were initially released on a limited basis in March of this year and allow businesses to create Product Pins for simple and convenient shopping. This update featured a new dashboard to help retailers easily upload and manage their full product inventory.

Pinterest is now expanding the businesses that are able to use this feature to select participants in Spain, Italy, Germany, and France with the promise to continue to expand shopping features to more countries over time.

What does this mean for businesses?

With the latest updates and the platform’s foundational save and discovery functionalities, Pinterest continues to grow as a key discovery platform for businesses. The lifespan of Pinterest posts far exceeds that of content shared on other social media platforms which is an important thing to remember. If they are relevant to a user’s search, Pinterest posts could display in users feeds months after the original post date.

Pinterest is a valuable and growing platform for e-commerce businesses to reach new customers and maintain and engage existing fans. Digital Stand is a social media agency that can help you leverage Pinterest and other platforms to grow your business. Contact us today to find out more about how our experts can support your business.