Pinterest Enhances Purchase Options for Shoppers from Pins

Key Highlights

• Feature: Pinterest has launched “where-to-buy links” to enhance consumer purchasing options directly from Pins.
• Functionality: Users can now tap a “Find retailers” button to access multiple purchasing options.
• Retailer Benefit: Brands gain valuable insights into link performance and user engagement without needing a single referral link.
• Availability: Where-to-buy links will be rolled out to all U.S. advertisers in the coming weeks.

Pinterest is rolling out a new way for retailers to guide consumer actions stemming from their Pins, with “where-to-buy links,” which will give people more purchase options in-stream, while also giving brands additional insight into link performance.

As you can see in this example, with where-to-buy links, Pinterest users will now be able to tap a “Find retailers” CTA below a pin, which will then present a list of options on where they can make a purchase.

That’ll give each user more ways to take action, via the process that they feel most comfortable with, while retailers will no longer have to choose whether to refer them back to their own website, or to a third-party platform via a single referral link.

As explained by Pinterest:

“With one tap from an ad, shoppers can immediately view retailer options, allowing them to choose their preferred retailer and add the item to their cart for purchase. This gives shoppers the choice and convenience they expect, while brands gain higher-quality engagement from people ready to act.”

So again, rather than having to create a single referral point from each Pin, retailers will now have more options to guide relative traffic. That means that if shoppers have more trust in a certain retail platform, you can still drive purchase activity, as opposed to losing them by only offering a single option, while you’ll also get expanded response data from your Pins.

“Advertisers gain transparent signals such as Purchase Intent Clicks, and Purchase Intent Value to understand the impact of every dollar without needing to track on retailer-owned sites.” 

Up until now, retailers on Pinterest have had to make a call as to which is the right way to go, with direct links to their site providing more insight, and better tracking for retargeting, etc. But referring users to a bigger retail host platform could drive more sales, due to familiarity with the site, established relationships, etc.

But now, you won’t have to make that choice, which could be a big win for some brands.

And it’s effective. Pinterest says that in early testing, this process drove higher user engagement and stronger performance compared to campaigns using external where-to-buy landing pages.

In addition to this, Pinterest has also partnered with ecommerce enablement platforms MikMak and Pear Commerce to help shoppers see relevant in-stock options.

• Pear Commerce: Pinterest’s native, no-fee option for advertisers makes it simple to launch where-to-buy links directly through the Pinterest Ads Manager and helps connect shoppers to more than 3,000 retailers across 165,000 stores.
• MikMak: For brands with existing MikMak relationships, our integration brings a richer, analytics-driven experience, embedding MikMak’s where-to-buy technology into Pinterest Ads Manager at no additional cost to MikMak brand partners.

It’s another consideration for your TikTok product listings, providing more options to drive sales, without losing data insights.

Pinterest says that Where-to-buy links will be made available to all U.S. advertisers in the coming weeks.