Aspiration meets action and design meets desire and dollars as Pinterest readies its new Buyable Pins platform
In the coming weeks, Pinterest users in the US will be able to buy their favourite Pinterest finds directly through the app. The e-commerce breakthrough will be powered by platforms like Stripe, Braintree, Demandware and Shopify.
Instead of just pinning items of desire, users will be able to acquire products on the spot.
It emerged in February that Stripe, the Silicon Valley e-payments company founded by Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison, was working with Pinterest to enable users to purchase goods they discovered on the online scrapbook.
In recent weeks it also emerged that Pinterest poached top Irish Facebook executive Adele Cooper to spearhead the company’s operations in the UK.
Pinterest was started in 2009 by Ben Silberman, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. In 2013 Pinterest secured a US$255m equity round that values it at around US$3.8bn.
Pinning action to aspiration
Until now there has been no way to purchase goods directly on Pinterest, but by matching action with aspiration an entire new e-commerce powerhouse could be born.
In the coming weeks in the US users will be able to use more than 2m Buyable Pins on their iPhone or iPad, followed imminently by Android and desktop Buyable Pins.
Where you combine design, desire and dollars, e-commerce will be notched up a gear
At launch, Pinners will be able to buy from retailers like Macy’s Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.
Thousands of businesses will also be able to get Buyable Pins through online commerce platform Shopify.
Pinterest has also partnered with enterprise commerce platform Demandware to bring Pinners products from brands like Michaels and Cole Haan.
The move into Buyable Pins follows Pinterest’s move last December into advertising via Promoted Pins.
But with the ability to not just Pin objects of desire but also be able to act on impulse a whole new era in e-commerce could be opened up within a very cohesive social network.
The big threat here will be to players like Amazon and eBay, who pretty much ruled this kind of marketplace. But where you combine design, desire and dollars, e-commerce will be notched up a gear.
Pinterest image via Shutterstock
