This small button marks Pinterest's coming of age in the social commerce world.
The marketing world has been quick to fall under the spell of picture-perfect Pinterest (it’s “Facebook without the whining,” coos Copyblogger).
Amazon and eBay have also begun to show their love, but in a much more prosaic way. They’ve added Pinterest share buttons to their product pages. As we’ve reported, the social media darling of the moment doesn’t have the merchandising capabilities to turn pinners into shoppers. But its gorgeous imagery can now be employed as word of mouth marketing for products sold on full-fledged e-commerce sites such as Amazon.
A quick search showed plenty of Pinterest users are already linking back to Amazon products they own or want to buy. One pinner’s birthday wishes include a pink polka dot luggage set (Amazon), various Nike shoes (Amazon), beauty gear (Target, Nordstrom), and the requisite lineup of five adorable puppies. Click on any of the 33 birthday items (well, not the puppies) and you’re taken to the aforementioned companies’ product pages.
Are You Pin-Worthy?
While it’s not clear how Pinterest aims to make money off of this social commerce bonanza, for companies like Amazon and eBay, adding Pinterest share buttons to product pages is a no-brainer. They realize social sharing and word of mouth marketing are essential components of e-commerce and will become even more so in the future.
But it’s not only the e-commerce giants who should be courting Pinterest. Companies that sell products online need to make sure that their product detail pages have pin-worthy images as well as product descriptions that will convert pinners into buyers.
Read more about the e-commerce interest in Pinterest at www.clickz.com.
