Pinterest launches new shopping features for merchants – TechCrunch

Pinterest announced today that it’s rolling out new merchant features, including product tagging on Pins and a Pinterest API for Shopping. The company says all of the new features are designed to make it easier for merchants to create engaging shopping experiences for users.

With the new Pinterest API for Shopping, merchants will get access to new catalog management and product metadata features to enable more efficient data quality for merchant products. The company says merchants who have used this tool are already seeing a 97% accuracy level for price and availability data.

The new “Product Tagging on Pins” shopping feature allows merchants to make their lifestyle Pins shoppable. With product tagging, merchants can add products from their catalog to their scene images. Users can then shop for the exact items from the imagery they find. Pinterest says users showed 70% higher shopping intent on product Pins tagged in scene images than standalone product Pins in initial tests.

In addition, Pinterest is enabling video assets in product catalogs to give users a view of items from multiple angles when making a purchase decision. The launch of this feature comes as Pinterest says it’s seen promising results from video-like ad formats.

Image Credits: Pinterest

Lastly, Pinterest is launching a new Shop Tab on business profiles that will allow merchants to easily display shoppable products. The company notes that the new feature not only enables easier product group management directly on a merchant’s Shop tab, but also brings customizable product descriptions and an enhanced mobile interface.

“At Pinterest, our goal is to turn inspiration into action, and our vision for shopping is to make it possible to buy anything Pinners are inspired by on the platform,” said Jeremy King, the senior vice president of Engineering at Pinterest, in a statement. “In 2021, the number of Pinners engaging with shopping surfaces on Pinterest grew over 215%, and 89% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their path to purchase. The new shopping features such as the API for Shopping allows brands and retailers to reach high-intent Pinners during the earliest stage of their shopping journey with the most updated catalog data.”

Pinterest has set its eyes on improving the online shopping experience on its platform over the past few months, as the company recently announced that it’s acquiring AI-powered shopping service for fashion known as The Yes. The company was founded by e-commerce veteran and former Stitch Fix COO Julie Bornstein and technical co-founder Amit Aggarwal. Pinterest said the acquisition will help to establish a new strategic organization within the company to help drive the company’s shopping efforts, including the development of features for both shoppers and retailers.

Pinterest says these new shopping features for merchants, the acquisition of The Yes and the appointment of Google executive Bill Ready as Pinterest’s new CEO, show that it’s focused on making Pinterest the home of taste-driven shopping and working toward a vision of making it possible for shoppers to buy anything they are inspired by on the platform.