Pinterest to Launch Buy Button
Pinterest is inching ever closer to its vision of allowing users to purchase products directly on the site. The benefits that this will bring to both Pinterest and businesses who utilise the platform for advertising are huge. The web giant currently has over 70 million active users, many of which come to the site for inspiration and ideas in regards to things they are contemplating purchasing.
At the beginning of July this year, Pinterest head of partnerships, Tim Kendall, presented their plans at the MIT Emtech Digital Conference. His presentation allowed those in attendance to gain a better understanding of how this service would work and be implemented.
The plans focus primarily on two new utility buttons – Buy and Wish List. For example, you are browsing Pinterest and you see a gorgeous piece of furniture from a retailer that you instantly decide you would like to add to your home. You click the Buy button and are then able to pay for the item and arrange the delivery without ever leaving Pinterest.
One exciting example that Kendall presented at the conference was that of buying ingredients for a recipe. He explained that Pinterest would like to make it possible for users to see a pin of a recipe they would like to make that once clicked, leads the user to an external retail site where their basket is instantly filled with the necessary ingredients to make that recipe. This would be a huge time saver for those who use Pinterest to get cooking ideas but then have to go and search for the ingredients on their own. In theory, a user could find a recipe, order the ingredients, arrange delivery and be cooking the recipe just a few short hours later!
Allowing users the option to buy directly on the site would provide a massive amount of free advertising to companies who get involved. The potential for a huge organic reach already exists and there is already the option to promote pins at a cost which then enables a much wider audience to see them.
It is predicted with good reason that these new functions will keep users on Pinterest for much longer than their current average visit time. This of course means good things for Pinterest and in turn good things for those who are selling their products on the site. The timeline on the launch is still to be announced but it certainly seems that this is on the horizon for the not-too-distant future of digital marketing!
By Alix Jones
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