Amazon has quietly unveiled Collections, a Pinterest-like section where customers can save, share and discover new products on the site.
Collections allows users to post photos of products they like or have purchased on Amazon and organize them into categories like books, men's fashion, music or DVDS as well as more open-ended categories such as "My Style," "Want List," and "Possibilities." They can find and follow other users who share their same interests. Links to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter encourage users to share products.
Not surprisingly, users can click to easily buy any product they see. Unlike Pinterest, only Amazon products can be saved in Collections.
"This new test feature is just one of the many ways we are working to help our customers discover and share new things," an Amazon spokeswoman told The Seattle Times.
"Obsessed with data, Amazon likely would benefit as well from learning more about what its users intend to buy but never do," wrote Greg Bensinger on The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog. "That could help them with targeting product pitches and pricing, among other strategies."
Writing for TechCrunch, Sarah Perez noted that this is the first time Amazon has duplicated the look and feel of a competing service. She said the move "to some extent, validates the traction Pinterest is seeing with e-commerce referrals. The move also comes at a time when Pinterest has been beefing up its e-commerce efforts, with new tools for online retailers, including web and mobile product pins, analytics, personalized recommendations, and, just today, price alerts."
Last week, Pinterest rolled out a new price drop notification system that alerts users via email when items they like see a price reduction.
Many retailers, particularly fashion ones, are choosing set up pages on Pinterest and paying the social site commission. Like Amazon, eBay also unveiled a Pinterest-like function on its homepage last year and Facebook is also testing a "Collections" feature of its own.
- Amazon Collections
- Amazon unveils feature resembling Pinterest - The Seattle Times
- Amazon Experiments With Its Own Take On Pinterest Called "Amazon Collections" - TechCrunch
- Amazon Launches Pinterest-Like 'Collections' Feature - PC Magazine
- Amazon Seems to ‘Like' Pinterest's Style - The Wall Street Journal (sub. required)