Scrolling through the SKUs on a screen may not fire the same pleasure receptors as browsing through the rails, the shelves and the malls.

But the prosaic modality of ecommerce doesn’t have to win out.

In this video interview with industry analyst Joanna O’Connell for Beet.TV, Carrie Sweeney, Industry Lead for Retail at Pinterest, describes how the platform is looking to rekindle the joy of shopping.

Pinning and beyond

Sweeney says: “50% of our shoppers say they come primarily to shop.” She says Pinterest aims to be a retailer’s best friend by sending them “powerful, highly qualified traffic.” By giving users ideas on who to shop from and what to buy, Pinterest passes them off to the retailer to fulfill and convert the customers.

Speaking at ShopTalk 2023, where Sweeney spoke, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready drew a parallel between shopping on the platform and the experience of wandering the aisles of the Grand Bazaar in Turkey.

Sweeney says Pinterest aims to become the “digital bazaar” where users can rediscover the joy of window shopping and uncover new products they didn’t know they wanted.

Innovative Formats and Opportunities

Pinterest doesn’t just want to be where people pin desirable items. It also wants to help them get to the checkout.

The company says its users are looking for something new, for inspiration, are prepared to pay upto 40% more for items than those of other social platforms.

Sellers can connect Shopify or WooCommerce stores to their Pinterest accounts, upload products individually using Catalogues or use Pinterests’s Shopping API.

Sweeney highlights the constantly changing shopping behaviors and how Pinterest is adapting to engage users in new ways. The company’s in-house incubation team, TwoTwenty, launched a new app called Shuffles, which provides more functionality for users to create collage boards with cut-out images and stickers. The app has been especially popular among Gen Z users, pushing Pinterest to consider incorporating some of its functionality into the native app.

Finding the Balance Between Efficiency and Inspiration

Sweeney also discussed the importance of balancing efficiency and inspiration in the current macroeconomic environment.

While it’s essential to prove the efficacy of ad dollars, she believes that focusing solely on efficiency can lead to a loss of the “magic” that drives innovation and customer centricity.

Sweeney emphasized the need to think bigger-picture and future-proof the business while maintaining ad efficiency.

Pinterest Loves ‘The Beauty Of Clean Rooms’: Sweeney

You are watching ‘Inside Commerce: Retail Media & What’s Next? Reports from ShopTalk 2023,’ a Beet.TV Leadership Series presented by Criteo. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.

By Robert Andrews on @robertandrews