With 'Pinterest Shop', Small Businesses That Make And Sell Products Become More Visible

Pinterest Shop

The end of the year is near, and Pinterest gets ready by launching 'Pinterest Shop'.

Pinterest is already a home to millions of product Pins. However, most of them are coming from larger brands. To give smaller brands a greater visibility, Pinterest Shop showcases the profiles and products of small businesses, curated by Pinterest.

Pinterest Shop closely resembles a Pinterest user profile, but the boards have been filled with curated Pins taken from merchants' profiles, with all Pins within the boards are shoppable products.

By having their pins appear in an Etsy-style manner, Pinterest Shop automatically turns Pins into Product Pins.

Initially, Pinterest Shop includes 17 small businesses that make and sell unique goods, and have uploaded their product catalogs to Pinterest.

Pinterest said it is going to continue updating the Pinterest Shop with more products from more selected businesses.

As a native visual platform, Pinterest acts like a discovery engine for users to generate ideas, which translates to users who view a Pin and decide to make a purchase. With Pinterest Shop, users can browse a selection of curated products from small businesses, without having to leave the platform.

For small businesses, the ability to showcase their profiles and connect with Pinterest's audiences in a personal and familiar way, could help drive sales in time for the holiday rush.

Small businesses chosen to be featured in The Pinterest Shop all “make and sell unique goods, are mission-driven, diverse, and have uploaded their product catalog to Pinterest.”

At the moment of the launch, there isn't a way for businesses to request inclusion in The Pinterest Shop.

Pinterest Shop inclusion

With its numerous efforts, Pinterest is still having its shares declining. The company expects a 2019 loss of between $10 and $30 million, which is a different range than the previous estimate of between $25 and $50 million.

But still, the platform experiences impressive growth, with ad revenue growing 47% more than the year before. For comparison, this is faster than Facebook and Google.

Pinterest's users are typically older than those in Instagram.

The site said that “eight of 10 moms” are on the social media platform, and according to a study by Comscore, about 80% of all Pinterest users are women from ages 18 through 64.

Social platforms are having their own ways to embrace the shopping and the holiday season.

Through personalized recommendations of products and curated shopping hubs, online platforms like Amazon and Instagram are also giving small and medium-sized businesses a chance to be more visible to whole wide range of customers.

Published: 
02/12/2019