Pinterest Announces Buyable Pins

Pinterest has announced the introduction of a “Buy Button” to allow users to purchase products that are pinned to its boards. Although the site and mobile app is a popular destination for browsing products, there hasn’t been a purchase option for users until now.

At an event at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, Pinterest co-founder and chief executive Ben Silbermann announced the introduction of “Buyable Pins”.

“Pinterest is already designed to work like a catalogue, so we wanted to find a way to weave buyable pins into the pages people already know,” explained Silbermann. “Buyable pins are a simple and secure way to buy the products you love right from inside Pinterest.”

Buyable Pins will include a blue “buy it” button in the top right-hand corner of the post, with a price point and options to search for different colors and costs. Users will then be able to click on a button to purchase a product, with payment being made via credit card or Apple Pay. The processing will be handled by payment enterprises Braintree, which is owned by PayPal, and start-up company Stripe. Pinterest will not retain any of the users’ credit information, but the company will store personal information to simplify the process for repeat purchasers.

“We’re always looking for ways to help you go out and do the creative ideas you Pin – whether that’s figuring out the ingredients for a new dish or installing an app to mix up your workouts,” wrote Pinterest in its blog post announcement. “Lots of you have said that you’d like to buy the things you discover on Pinterest, too. Like @RebeccaStrebe who Tweeted, ‘It would be so great if Pinterest would let you buy all the clothes you Pinned #lifewouldbegr8’ and @Brookecomans who said, ‘I wish there was a straight up buy button on Pinterest. Well, we’re excited to let you in on some good news! In a few weeks, we’ll be introducing Buyable Pins – just another way to bring the creative ideas you find on Pinterest to life.”

It’s a very logical step for the company, and it seems likely that its buy button will be welcomed by a significant number of Pinterest users. According to Pinterest’s general manager for monetization, Tim Kendall, 87% of users have gone on to purchase a product (outside of Pinterest) that they have seen pinned. With its new buy button, Pinterest will not be taking a cut from retailers’ profits, but is instead planning to derive revenue from selling promoted buyable pins and advertisements. The company explained that there will be no fee for buyers or merchants.

The new Buyable Pins will appear in all of Pinterest’s features, such as recommendations and search. Silbermann explained that the company has partnered with retailers like Macy’s and Nordstroms to stock Pinterest with millions of products, and is also working with tens of thousands of local brands and merchants in this initiative.