Pinterest embrace omnichannel via visual search

Pinterest are embracing ecommerce on their platform via visual search to enable shoppers to turn the moment of inspiration to purchase.

“Today we’re rolling out improvements to Lens and bringing shoppable Pins to visual search results. If you see it – online or in the real world – you can shop for it.”
– Pinterest.

The visual discovery engine, stays away from a label of social commerce platform but welcomes merchants to join the club where inspiration, discovery and entertainment serve as new metrics of profitability.

Pinterest’s latest attempt to make their platform a more fertile ground for sellers, is seeing the enhanced Pinterest camera search bar, Lens joining forces with an innovation, Product Pins to surface shoppable products or suggestions based on consumers snaps – with the current price for an item and a direct link to the checkout on the retailer’s site.

Using the picture is worth a thousand words propostion

The move aims to create a seamless experience by accelerating the search and discovery stage, tackling their indecision to purchase. The visual search innovation is able to identify more than 2.5 billion objects across home and fashion Pins, supporting merchants’ visibility focus to make sure their products stand out of the competition.

“A picture is indeed worth a thousand words. Thanks to Pinterest’s investments in pioneering technology, computer vision and machine learning, Pinners benefit from communicating what they want in an instant, without resorting to searching obscure strings of terms in the hopes that they’ll find what they’re looking for. We see the significant value for brands to tap into in visual search on Pinterest, as it will allow wider discovery by tastemakers and drive meaningful consumer engagements online and off.”
– says Kieley Taylor, global head of social, GroupM.

Computer vision technology has transformed from a futuristic idea to a useful tool aimed at directing Pinners to sellers, driving traffic to their sites and increasing the possibility of conversion rates in the latest win-win model served by Pinterest. From camera search, where a picture is entered as the query, to saving Pins, visual signals are powering search, recommendations and results across Pinterest. In new research, the discovery engine found the following:

• 80% of Pinners start with visual search when shopping, compared to 58% of non-Pinners.
• When shopping online for clothing or furniture, over 85% of respondents put more importance on visual information than text information.
• 55% of consumers say that visual search is essential in developing their taste and style.
• 49% of Pinners say that they develop a better relationship with brands they love through visual search.
• 61% of consumers say that visual search elevates their experience when browsing in shops.

Ecommerce heavyweights including IKEA, The Home Depot and The Conran Shop have already using Pinterest’s visual search-enabled QR codes to ‘exploit’ omnichannel practices by connecting real-world and online retail experiences. Here are some of the examples:

• IKEA Germany has been using Pincodes in their mailings to inspire customers with more ideas around their products and connect them to their Pinterest profile.
• During London Design Week 2018, The Conran Shop, a leading luxury retailer of furniture and home accessories, used Pincodes in window installation in their flagship London shop to provide access to exclusive inspirational boards related to iconic products. Inside the shop, a custom API experience and Pincodes let people save their favourite products on their phones with a simple tap.
• The Home Depot launched Pincodes in 30 of its shops in Mexico to offer customers inspiration and ideas for home renovations and DIY projects.

“We’ve worked with Pinterest since 2015 to bridge the online and offline worlds and bring back the magic of shopping through innovative paid campaigns.”

“We will continue to watch the advancements Pinterest makes in visual search to help IKEA customers find the products they love and be able to purchase them when they see it.”
– Joy Kelly, media manager, IKEA Retail US.