Pinterest Inc. on Monday rolled out the latest step in its yearslong push to transform its social network into a shopping platform: Shop the Look ads, which are in a new collections format for mobile.
The ads build on the platform’s organic Shop the Look Pins that enable consumers to learn more about the products that appear within a pin. The Shop the Look ads let retailers tag up to 25 items in an image. The ads present a shopper with a preview showcase of four items. She can then click through to see more products.
The ads aim to help consumers discover products in the context of a pin’s image and click to checkout on the retailer’s site. Pinterest plans to roll out the ads in the United States over the next few months.
Finally, Pinterest on Monday expanded the reach of its Catalogues feature that enables retailers to upload their full catalog to Pinterest and automatically turn their products into shoppable product pins. Retailers in France, Germany, Spain and Italy can now work with select digital marketing vendors to access the tool. At the same time, Pinterest is rolling out Shopping Ads to those countries to let retailers automatically create Pinterest ads from their existing product catalogs at scale.
“As people around the world use Pinterest for shopping inspiration, we’ll continue making updates to help pinners discover the right pin to shop at the right time, while giving businesses the tools to reach people while they’re in a planning mindset,” writes Pinterest in a blog post.