In our last post, we promised more news on Pinterest and social media tools, so here it is…
Three months after the initial launch, Pinterest has extended availability of their new Buyable Pins to reach thousands more ecommerce merchants and their mobile customers.
They have already built some impressive stats, doubling the number of early responses to report that 60 million are now available to Pinners.
What’s more, Buyable Pins are demonstrating a conversion rate on mobile devices that is twice as high as the rate for other Pins.
Use Buyable Pins to Get in Front of New Customers
Retailers know by now that even in-store shoppers are addicted to searching through their mobile devices for the best prices and availability of items. Most Pinners — a full ninety-three percent — use the site as a shopping tool for planning and listing items. The addition of Buyable Pins changes Pinterest to an active shopping site, with significant potential for exposure to a new customer base and increased sales.
Not yet up-to-speed on this free option for driving added sales through social media? If you’ve already put Pinterest’s “Promoted Pins” to work, start by analyzing their performance, then choose those that work best and optimize them for conversion to Buyables.
Here’s a recap of how Buyable Pins work currently:
- What exactly is a Buyable Pin? It promotes your product with the addition of a blue “Buy It” button and the price in blue. Mobile users can browse or search for them from their iPhone or Android app. Once they find something to buy, they just click through to make the purchase directly. The result is a mobile shopping experience that Pinterest describes as “frictionless.”
- Who can use BPs currently? Retailers participating with one of the major ecommerce platforms, including Bigcommerce, Demandware, IBM Commerce, Magento, and Shopify; also selected online retailers and department stores, like Bloomingdale’s, Wayfair, DVF, and Steven Alan.
- How do they work for consumers? A Pinterest shopper pre-enrolls with a profile and payment information in a simple, one-time process. When browsing their boards, they spot a product and see the blue price and blue “Buy It” button (they can also search for Buyable Pins only). They click on the blue button and are taken directly to a shopping cart page where they can refine the selection with filters and complete the purchase.
Pinterest is cleverly building both anticipation and demand as it rolls out this feature to progressively more and bigger platforms, creating a kind of exclusivity and mass response at the same time.
A brief scorecard—who’s ready to implement Buyable Pins:
- Bigcommerce: is inviting retailers to get on their waiting list for notification once Buyable Pins are available. Some current Bigcommerce merchants are testing the service now.
- Magento: is actively offering the service to their merchants, as an extension that will “…work seamlessly with your Magento online store.”
- Shopify: offers Buyable Pins now to new merchants, along with their other social media platform sales options on Facebook and Twitter.5\
Check with each ecommerce platform you want to use for the latest on how to access this new feature. Some of those named in multiple sources appear not-quite-ready to enroll merchants, or are running tests with a few selected participants. All the more reason to get on a waiting list now, as they work out any kinks in the systems in time for the coming holiday rush.