Photo: iStock | kycstudio
Can Amazon Help Jumpstart Shopping On Pinterest?
Pinterest has reached a multiyear deal making Amazon.com its first partner on third-party ads, promising to bring more brands and relevant products to the platform.
“This milestone partnership will add to the great brands already on the platform and provide more comprehensiveness, shoppability, and a best-in-class buying experience for users, along with greater performance for brands and advertisers,” said CEO Bill Ready in a statement. “This aligns with our goal of making every Pin shoppable.”
The impact of the partnership may not be felt until next year with a multi-quarter implementation expected. More partners are planned.
The Amazon hook-up comes as Pinterest’s user growth has revived in recent quarters after the 2021 launch of the Idea Pins short-form video format.
Video content on the platform in the first quarter grew nearly 40 percent quarter over quarter with the videos complementing the static images the site is known for. Mr. Ready said on an analyst call, “Images in addition to video help users find inspiration relevant to them, refine what they’re looking for, and take action.”
Pinterest’s surveys consistently show that over half of users view it as a place to shop, but the site has faced challenges in driving conversion.
To correct that, Pinterest is integrating shoppable pins across its most-trafficked surfaces, including the home feed and search, as well as in videos to support a full-funnel advertising solution for brands.
Some early wins in the first quarter include click-through rates and saves of shoppable pins growing over 35 percent and ad impressions expanding more than 30 percent, alongside the engagement gains. Merchants uploading their catalogs to the platform have seen nearly a 30 percent increase in attributed checkouts in the last six months.
“Can we take users from window shopping to taking action,” Mr. Ready told analysts. “We have very strong signs of progress there. And while that will be a multiyear adoption curve, we couldn’t feel better about the progress that we’re making there.”
The shoppability push comes as Pinterest is undergoing a restructuring, which includes the exit of office space and layoffs as it faces increasingly cut-throat competition in the challenged tech space.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What do you think of the third-party ad demand opportunity for Pinterest and its partnership with Amazon? Is Pinterest positioning itself to become a better shopping portal for brands and retailers?
Poll
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Lisa Goller
B2B Content Strategist
Richard Hernandez
Merchant Director
This is a smart move for both brands. Pinterest has really honed its focus and made strategic plays towards its goals in the last year. Making it easier for consumers to traverse the whole path to purchase on its platform is key.
Pinterest is a viable option to shop for products, so it makes perfect sense for Amazon to use it as a selling vehicle.
This sounds like a pretty big deal. It gets Pinterest into the retail business and it extends Amazon’s reach. That’s a formidable combination. And the beauty of it is that a purchase can be the outcome of a session that the customer never even intended to be a shopping journey. It takes an individual who isn’t even a shopper yet from a casual social media cruise, to a moment of curiosity or deep interest, to reaching for their wallet in a matter of minutes. Life keeps getting easier for Prime members.
This partnership reflects the influence of TikTok and retail media on commerce. Brands want to reach and sell to communities and Pinterest is a magnet for enthusiastic creators.
Investing in video and shoppable content will help Pinterest connect companies with consumers and shorten the path to purchase. Food, home, crafting and apparel companies would make ideal advertisers on Pinterest.
“Pinterest is the app for inspiration. It helps people find useful, relevant ideas—and then bring them to life. People don’t always have the words to describe what they’re looking for. But they’ll know it when they see it. As they browse Pinterest content, they fine-tune their tastes and find the perfect idea.”
That was Pinterest’s going-in plan. That it succeeded at. But apparently, it wasn’t enough.
Now Pinterest has waved the white flag and said “We aren’t really a place for inspiration. We are another shopping site.” With that in mind, the Amazon connection is perfect.
I see impressive growth percentages, but against what baseline? I suspect the actual numbers are still relatively small, but hope this partnership helps boost Pinterest conversions for the Pinterest community. Pinterest — despite its 450 million monthly active users worldwide — attracts what I believe is a niche audience. And niches always represent opportunities to offer access to highly targeted audiences. It seems like a real opportunity for brands and Pinterest. I will be interested to see how this plays out.
Pinterest is in many ways the dark horse of social media. Its visual nature has largely shielded it from the negativity and misinformation surfacing in so many other platforms. It’s also becoming a viable alternative to or compliment for brands using TikTok, and the recent video focus reflects that. This partnership with Amazon connects the power of Amazon’s retail media ad network to the inspirational content that Pinterest presents to its users — that will lead to more shoppable moments, which is the trajectory Pinterest is most interested in now. This feels like a winning combination for both Pinterest and Amazon. Amazon can benefit from new customer journeys based on product inspiration that it can’t generate on product pages on its website. Pinterest gains access to more brands delivering content to users at the moment they are seeking product inspiration. Perhaps they’ve found the winning formula for social commerce with this partnership?
I think it’s pretty evident that social media has become a crucial aspect of modern-day shopping. Pinterest, being a highly popular platform for shoppable content, presents a promising opportunity for Amazon to extend its reach and broaden its influence.
In my opinion, Pinterest has a very niche space within the realm of social media. Consequently, not only Amazon but also small brands can leverage third-party advertisements to target specific customer profiles and reap benefits. Undoubtedly, the main goal revolves around generating additional streams of revenue. However, the ultimate success of this strategy remains uncertain, and we must wait and observe its outcomes.