As part of its presentation at ShopTalk 2023, Pinterest has announced some new updates to help retailers maximize their opportunities in the app, including catalog display via product feed ingestion, expanded availability of its ‘Premiere Spotlight’ ads, and the capacity for users to shop via creations within its separate Shuffles app.
First off, on catalogs – Pinterest says that, over the past year, it’s seen a 66% increase in retailers uploading or integrating their digital catalogs into the app, which has contributed to 70% growth in active shopping feeds, year-over-year.
To further build upon this, Pinterest’s making it easier to build your Pin profile when you upload your product feed into the app.
As per Pinterest:
“When merchants connect their product catalog, Pinterest enables the products within it to be discoverable and shoppable via Pins, ads and videos. Pins created via catalog upload get to take advantage of visual technology built for shopping such as Virtual Try On and Pinterest Lens. Merchants also receive a Shop tab on their Pinterest profile, making it easier for consumers to shop their products.”
Streamlined feed ingestion is a critical element in getting more merchants to list more of their products in the app, and more products means more opportunity for Pinterest to highlight more items to its buy-ready audience.
As such, this is an important focus for Pinterest, as it looks to maximize opportunities for more businesses.
Pinterest is also looking to make its prime placement ‘Premiere Spotlight’ ads available to more businesses.
As you can see in this example, Premiere Spotlight ads take-up the top position on Pinterest’s search page, giving brands the opportunity to be front of mind as users go to search in the app. That could be a valuable opportunity, and Pinterest is now opening up the option to more brands, after initially testing it over the past few weeks.
Finally, Pinterest is looking to capitalize on the popularity of its separate ‘Shuffles’ app, which enables users to make collages of product images, primarily sourced via Pinterest.
The next stage is for Pinterest to make these collages shoppable in the app.
As you can see in this example, the new update will display Pin detail on items displayed in Shuffles collages, while you’ll also be able to view other collages that include the same item. Pinterest is also looking to build in brand and price comparison tools to help you find the best deals on a displayed item, or similar products, all powered by Pinterest info.
Shuffles has proven popular with younger audiences, a key market for Pinterest to keep in touch with, as social media, in general, ages up.
As per Pinterest:
“Gen-Z has embraced Shuffles, a new app built by Pinterest’s innovation team to unleash creative energy through collages and digital art. Early learnings show that they are looking for self expression and ways to define, stretch, and shop their style. In fact, the top saved Shuffles on Pinterest are outfit collages as people experiment with core aesthetics and design creative mood boards. Whereas most time spent online is spent consuming or scrolling, we’re seeing that Gen-Z is spending hours intentionally curating their looks on Shuffles.”
That could prove to be a valuable connector for Pinterest, in keeping up with relevant trends, while the capacity to display Pin product info in Shuffles will give brands on Pinterest another opportunity for exposure in the separate app.
These are some handy updates, which will provide more ways for brands to get their products in front of shoppers, while also presenting all new considerations for display and reach, via the Shuffles app.
Worth factoring into your Pin marketing approach.
