Pinterest adds new tools & features to enhance shopping experience

Pinterest's new tools have drawn inspiration from the users and partners to create an ecosystem for people to shop with intent and buy what they love, and introduced a few features such as Shuffles, Catalogs, and new formats like Pinterest Premiere Spotlight. Here's what led to these updates.

On Pinterest, consumers get to explore a personalized experience tailored to their interests—where they see each new idea, brand and product because of the last one they saved. Essential to that are the merchants and brands who want to be discovered by shoppers with intent. More than half of people think of Pinterst as a place to shop. Being able to shop anything you see is a top request from users, according to the platform.

“Pinterest makes online shopping feel natural and fun because it’s a core experience on the platform,” said Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest. “As we continue to make it easier to shop what you see on Pinterest, we're offering fresh new ways for consumers to browse, curate and discover products perfectly tailored to their taste.”

Shuffles On Pinterest

As digital natives, Gen-Z have grown up in a world where everything is available at the click of a button, and they are Pinterest’s fastest-growing cohort. They are among the most active and discerning consumers, and their behaviors shed light on how online shopping will evolve in the future.

Shuffles is a new app built by Pinterest’s innovation team to tap creativity through collages and digital art. Early learnings show that they are looking for self expression and ways to define, stretch, and shop their style. 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, Pinterest is seeing that Gen-Z is spending hours intentionally curating their looks on Shuffles.

This inclination is making marketplace trendy with shoppable ideas. The high density nature of Shuffles, which can include layers of product cutouts from multiple Pins, allows consumers to dig deeper and also connect to other Shuffles that include the same Pins.

Also Read: TikTok on the verge of being banned in the US

Pinterest is now testing ways of integrating Shuffles collage content into Pinterest, starting with shopping. New functionalities will include the ability to shop all items from a collage, including reviewing brand and price or identifying alternatives.

Catalogs

In the past year, the platform has seen a 66% increase in retailers setting up shop by uploading or integrating their digital catalogs on Pinterest. With partners like Shopify, who connect Pinterest to millions of merchants, 70% growth has been observed in active shopping feeds year over year globally.

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. 

Spotlight In Search

Pinterest is exploring a new takeover feature called Pinterest Premiere Spotlight that showcases a brand front and center on search. This is a new premium, exclusive placement.

Search is the front door to discovering new ideas on Pinterest and it’s where many Pinners start their journeys. 97% of top searches on Pinterest are unbranded, meaning users typically don’t type a brand name into their searches on the platform. This gives retailers and brands the opportunity to be discovered as they help consumers go from discovery to decision to purchase.