Pinterest today announced that it is rolling out new features for merchants, including product tagging on Pins and a Pinterest API for Shopping. The company says all of the new features are designed to make it easier for merchants to create compelling shopping experiences for users.
The new Pinterest API for Shopping gives merchants access to new catalog management and product metadata features to enable more efficient data quality for merchant products. The company says that merchants who have used this tool are already seeing a 97% accuracy level for pricing and availability data.
The new shopping feature ‘Product tagging on Pins’ allows merchants to make their lifestyle Pins shoppable. Product tagging allows sellers to add products from their catalog to their scene images. Users can then shop for the exact items of the images they find. Pinterest says that in the initial tests, users showed 70% higher purchase intent on product Pins tagged in scene images than on standalone product Pins.
In addition, Pinterest enables video items in product catalogs to give users a multi-angle view of items when making a purchase decision. The launch of this feature comes as Pinterest says it has seen promising results from video-like ad formats.
Image Credits: Pinterest
Finally, Pinterest is launching a new Shop tab on business profiles that makes it easy for merchants to display shopable products. The company notes that the new feature not only allows for easier product group management right on a merchant’s Store tab, but also offers customizable product descriptions and an improved mobile interface.
“At Pinterest, our goal is to turn inspiration into action, and our vision for shopping is to make it possible to buy everything Pinners are inspired by on the platform,” said Jeremy King, senior vice president of Engineering at Pinterest, in a statement. “By 2021, the number of Pinners engaged in retail spaces on Pinterest grew by more than 215%, and 89% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration on their purchase path. With the new shopping features, such as the API for Shopping, brands and retailers can reach high-intent Pinners with the most up-to-date catalog data early in their shopping journey.”
Pinterest has been looking to improve the online shopping experience on its platform in recent months as the company recently announced it is acquiring an AI-powered fashion shopping service known as The Yes. The company was founded by e-commerce veteran and former Stitch Fix COO Julie Bornstein and technical co-founder Amit Aggarwal. Pinterest said the acquisition will help establish a new strategic organization within the company to drive the company’s shopping efforts, including developing features for both shoppers and retailers.
Pinterest says these new shopping features for merchants, the acquisition of The Yes and the appointment of Google CEO Bill Ready as Pinterest’s new CEO, show its focus on making Pinterest the home of flavor-driven shopping and working on a vision to make this possible for shoppers to buy everything they are inspired by on the platform.
