Friday, March 23, 2018

Pinterest Expands Shopping Ads for Retailers


I think that Pinterest is the perfect digital advertising platform for any products related to visual expression. Whether that be housewares, furniture, art or fashion, Pinterest provides the ideal platform for both shoppers and brands. For shoppers, Pinterest becomes a visual search where they can scroll for inspiration, ideas and products to buy. For brands, they can easily target shoppers who are ready to buy, and they have a visual canvas on which to showcase their product. This is a win-win. With Pinterest, the ads aren’t a secondary annoyance for the user. They are a valuable part of the experience and the platform.

Pinterest and retailers seem to have come to a similar conclusion. Beginning soon, Pinterest will be expanding its “Shopping Ads” program. The program was piloted with a handful of brands last year, and will now be opening up to all. For retailers, the Shopping Ads program allows for extremely easy management of advertising campaigns. They can upload their product catalog and Pinterest will showcase the products “in context.” For example, users don’t see a single chair against a white background. Instead they see the chair in a decorated family room, providing more inspiration to users and more motivation to make a purchase.

Pinterest won’t be the ideal platform for all retailers or brands. As I mentioned before, products that have a strong visual element will benefit most from Pinterest’s visual focused platform. But for these types of products, Pinterest may be the best place for digital marketers to get bang for their buck.

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