Pinterest is rapidly evolving into a sales platform. The social network today announced that Bloomingdale’s and Wayfair, as well as retailers that operate on IBM Commerce, Magento and Bigcommerce e-commerce platforms can  use buyable pins that let users buy products directly within a pin.

The social network says it has more than 60 million buyable pins on its platform, which is roughly double the 30 million it had in June when it first let consumers buy on Pinterest. 

Pinterest says a number of retailers have posted significant benefits from buyable pins. For example, apparel retailer Spool No.72 says 84% of the shoppers who have bought items via buyable pins are new to the brand, which means the social network is helping retailers attract new customers.

Buyable pins are a natural fit for retailers like Spool No.72, which sells unique items, Michael Yamartino, Pinterest’s head of commerce, tells Internet Retailer. “People come to Pinterest to discovery new, interesting things,” he says. “So those who have products that are hard to find elsewhere are doing well.” 

While buyable pins are free to add, he says Pinterest plans to let retailers pay to promote buyable pins in the near future.

“The opportunity is really big for buyable pins,” he says. “We have 100 million users on our platform and getting help buying things has been their top request. But we’re still very early in the development of this.”

Pinterest is hardly alone among social networks seeking to transform themselves into online marketplaces. Just last week Twitter expanded its Buy Now button initiative and YouTube began letting advertisers promote products on any YouTube video in which the video owner opts in. And Facebook Inc. is running multiple tests with Shopify merchants involving Buy buttons.

The initiatives are all centered around the same goal: Figuring out how to boost mobile conversion rates, Yamartino says.

“Everyone sees a problem that needs to be solved,” he says. “We think that we have a different perspective because e-commerce naturally fits with our platform.”

For now, only consumers on Apple Inc. iOS devices can access buyable pins; Pinterest says it plans to add Android and web versions “soon.”

Favorite