Pinterest recently introduced a visual search, where users can use Lens camera search to snap a photo offline and Pinterest will tell you what it is and where to find something just like it.
When you use Lens within a fashion or home pin to hone in on a specific product or object, you’ll see shoppable product pins along with visually similar ideas to try or buy, making it easy to go from inspiration to purchase.
“A picture is indeed worth a thousand words,” says Kieley Taylor, global head of social, GroupM.
“With Pinterest’s investments in pioneering technology, computer vision, and machine learning, pinners benefit from communicating what they want in an instant, without resorting to obscure strings of terms, hoping that they’ll find what they want.
“We see significant value for brands to tap into visual search on Pinterest as it will allow wider discovery by tastemakers and drive meaningful consumer engagements online and off.”
According to research, 80 per cent of pinners start with visual search when shopping versus 58 per cent of non-pinners. When shopping online for clothing or furniture, over 85 per cent of respondents put more importance on visual information than text information.
“We’ve worked with Pinterest since 2015 to bridge the online and offline worlds and bring back the magic of shopping through innovative paid campaigns,” says Joy Kelly, media manager for Ikea Retail US.
“We will continue to watch the advancements Pinterest makes in visual search to help Ikea customers find the products they love and be able to purchase them when they see it.”
Additionally, Pincodes—Pinterest visual search-enabled QR codes—are used by brands around the world to connect offline and online retail experiences such as the Conran Shop, a luxury UK retailer of furniture and home accessories.
The retailer used Pincodes throughout a window installation in its flagship London store during London Design Week 2018 to provide access to exclusive inspiration boards about iconic products. Throughout the store, a custom API experience along with Pincodes let people save their favourite products with a simple tap on their phones.
The Home Depot launched Pincodes in 30 of its stores in Mexico to offer customers inspiration for home renovations and DIY projects.
Pinterest is also introducing new ways to make the platform a destination for advertisers to get their products in front of pinners while making the platform more shoppable, including Shop the Look ads and Catalogs.
Shop the Look ads are the easiest way for retailers to feature multiple products in a single ad so pinners can discover great products in the context of a pin’s image and click to checkout on the retailer’s site.
With Catalogs, businesses can upload their full catalogue to Pinterest and automatically turn their products into shoppable product pins.
Pinterest is partnering with retailers such as Leroy Merlin, ManoMano and Maisons du Monde who have implemented these new shopping features to drive traffic to their website and increase their sales from Pinterest.
“Pinterest has already enabled us to inspire consumers across Europe to consider Leroy Merlin for home ideas,” says Tatiana Okutina, head of comms/home improvement projects.
“Because of the open mindset of the audience on Pinterest who are looking for ideas of what to try and buy next, we were eager to explore more shopping features to help customers take their home projects from inspiration to action. So far, Pinterest’s shopping features have increased traffic to our site, leading to more engagement and potential purchases.”
