Pinterest’s Latest ‘Product Pin’ Feature Gives Sellers 40% More Clicks

Pinterest is doing everything it can to make shopping even better for its users. The visual sharing platform recently introduced Product Pins, Shopping Recommendations, and a new shortcut. These new features aim to provide its 250 million active Pinners with a more intuitive and streamlined shopping experience.

The first of these features is the Shopping Recommendations area in the women’s fashion and home décor categories. Pinners who view a pin in these groupings will see a new section showing “products like this.” The company states the recommended pins are visually similar to the items the customer is interested in. Each of these recommended pins will be called Product Pins.

An enhanced version of the Buyable Pins, the Product Pin shows users the item’s current price and stock availability. The update is also designed to keep the users inside the platform. A lot of Pinners have expressed their frustration of going to an item’s product page only to find out that it’s out of stock. Product Pins will do away with that frustration. Pinners who tap on the pin will see a shopping tag icon. Hitting that tag will automatically send the user to the retailer’s checkout page. They then simply add the item to the card and finish the purchase. Less clicks, less frustration, more sales.

Pinterest is reportedly phasing out its Buyer Pin program in favor of these new features. According to Tim Weingarten, Pinterest’s head of shopping product, not only are Product Pins “more personable,” but consumers also prefer to purchase pinned products directly from the merchant’s website.

The company is also incorporating a shortcut that will make browsing Product Pins even faster. Users simply tap and hold on a pin to start a shortcut reel. It sends consumers to a page where they can find the relevant information about the item, along with other related products. The reel also includes a shopping tag shortcuts as well as save and send shortcuts.

Pinterest is building themselves up as the consumer’s personal stylist. Weingarten explained in ablog post that their vision is to give users who see something they like on the platform the capability to buy it or something similar to it. It’s why the upgraded Pinterest “can give you recommendations for products based on your unique taste and what’s trending, and show you a range of visual ideas.”

The company has commenced testing these new features last quarter, and the clicks on retail products have reportedly increased by as much as 40 percent. This will certainly help Pinterest’s goal of becoming a more “shoppable” platform.

Pinners around the world can now enjoy Product Pins while Shopping Recommendations are currently limited to the U.S. However, it’s expected to roll out globally soon. The shopping shortcut is now available via an iOS app update but Android users will have to wait for a while.