You can now purchase those beautiful things on your Pinterest Board.
Pinterest headquarters has announced its latest update called “buyable pins.” The new feature will be launched at the end of the month on iPhone and iPads, and later in the coming months on other portable devices and desktop computers.
How It Works
“Buyable Pins” will show up on Pinterest in blue, allowing pinners to search for items based on price, size, and color. As part of an extension of “Rich Pins” – which display additional product information such as ingredients for a recipe or the price of an online item – partners will be able to add a “Buy Now” button directly on a pin.
By partnering with the Canadian company Shopify, Pinterest is giving online retailers and merchants the opportunity to seamlessly integrate their storefront, securely checkout, and have their Pins directly delivered to their door, without ever leaving the app!
How Do Customers Pay?
These items can be easily paid for with a credit card or Apple Pay. Pinterest has assured partners that they will not be taking any portion of customer transactions, making this an entirely free service for everybody involved. Shopify has assured users their credit card and Apple Pay information will only be stored by payment processors.
Some of the biggest online retailers will be signing up for “Buyable Pins,” including such companies as Nordstrom, Michaels, Neiman Marcus, and Macy’s.
Why Pinterest?
According to Forrester, online retail sales are projected to grow 57% by 2018. Ecommerce is at a critical juncture, “right now since everyone uses their phone, but it’s still a pain to buy things,” said Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann.
With around 80% of users accessing Pinterest’s nearly 50 billion pins via mobile, “Buyable pins” are a necessary step forward. Previously, users would have to navigate on a relatively small screen to complete their purchase, fiddling around with small images and complicated checkouts. According to Silbermann, 97% of Pinterest members saying they use the website to plan future purchases, and another 87% of members saying they have bought something after seeing it on Pinterest.
Facebook (obviously) wants a piece of the ad ecommerce dollars and is in the testing phases of a similar “Buy Button” feature. Facebook announced that it will also make the new feature available to Shopify's thousands of retailers.
Image Credit: shardsofblue/Flickr
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