Buy from anywhere

Since launching Buyable Pins in June last year, users have been able to search and buy items directly from Pinterest. However, this function was only available via the apps.

With the launch of Buyable Pins on the web, the platform now hopes that users will be more inclined to actually purchase through the site itself, instead of heading to retailers to checkout.

The amount of items available to buy on Pinterest has risen from 2m to over 10m in the space of a year, and with this latest feature, the amount looks set to further skyrocket.

It will be interesting to see if Pinterest’s Buy Buttons succeed where others have failed – Twitter got rid of its own commerce functions earlier this year.

Add to your shopping bag

As well as being able to buy online, Pinterest has added a shopping cart feature to allow customers to browse and shop multiple items – emulating the online experience found on Amazon and other major ecommerce sites.

This feature will certainly encourage users to stay on the platform as well as remind shoppers who may have browsed and abandoned items.

By allowing users to sync their shopping cart across devices, it also means that users will be more inclined to research products before returning to buy at a later date.

Visual search

Whether looking for inspiration or specific products, new search functions mean that users will be able to browse in a variety of ways.

Instead of typing words into the search bar, users can click the visual search button on any pin to view related items.

Alongside this, Pinterest has also announced its new camera functionality. The idea is that the user can take a photo of a piece of furniture or pair of jeans in-store and then use Pinterest to find a similar product online.

Capitalising on in-store browsing behaviour and the potential of AI technology, Pinterest hopes to create a way for customers to seamlessly transfer from the physical to the digital shopping experience – using the platform as a gateway to find exactly what they’re looking for.

Whether it will become a destination shopping hub remains to be seen, however with these new features, Pinterest is certainly hoping so.

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