Pinterest Launch Shoppable Pins In Visual Search Results

On June 1, 2020, Pinterest launched a shop tab in visual search results that shows Pinterest users a feed of shoppable Pins based on in-stock items related to an image.

As more and more businesses are coming online and bringing their products to Pinterest, the company decided to make it easier for Pinners to shop with their camera. They are enhancing their lens camera search functionality with a new ‘shop’ tab in search results full of shoppable pins, so that, when users with purchase intent conduct a visual search with the Lens camera, they can immediately find something similar to buy, or maybe even find the exact same item.

Pinterest Lens

The Pinterest lens is a feature built into the Pinterest app that allows pinners to look for a specific item by clicking a picture of it. Previously, Pinterest lens search results were limited to regular pins that may or may not have linked to a product that could be purchased. But with the latest update, one can simply click a photo and Pinterest will return a set of search results with similar-looking items. Pinners can also upload photos from their camera roll. 

How to Find Shoppable Pins Using Pinterest Lens

To find Shoppable Pins using Pinterest Lens, start by opening your Pinterest app. 

Tap the camera icon displayed on the right-hand side of the search bar, to launch the Lens camera.

Once the lens camera is launched, you can click a picture of the item you want to search for or you can upload a photo from your phone’s camera roll.

Pinterest will now display a set of search results and the ‘shop’ tab. Each shoppable pin will be linked to the respective retailer’s site, where you can buy the products. The company however, claims that they will only display shoppable pins for in-stock products. 

Note: Sellers who upload their catalogs to Pinterest can create regular Product Pins or Product Rich Pins, which display up-to-date information on price and availability from the retailer’s website.

Benefits of Pinterest Visual Search

As Pinterest visual search grows more popular with users, this new launch is expected to bring benefits for both customers and retailers. It’s very evident while viewing the statistics, that is, currently there are 3x as many visual searches using the Pinterest camera compared to last year. Now that there’s a shopping tab in Lens search results, this increased search activity could lead to a considerable increase in purchases also.

According to Pinterest’s, 90% of weekly app users say they use the platform to make purchase decisions, 78% of weekly users say it’s useful to see content from brands on Pinterest, and 66% purchase something after viewing a brand’s pins. 

Most Purchased and Searched Items with Pinterest Lens

However, the most frequently purchased products found with Pinterest Lens include prints & artwork, shirts & tops, dresses, shoes, jackets, vases, mirrors, rugs, pants, and throw pillows. Around half of the items searched for belonging to the fashion or home decor category.

Meanwhile, “home office” searches are the highest in Pinterest history, growing 2.7x from February to April. And, most importantly as Pinners make every grocery store trip count during COVID-19, there has been recorded soaring in searches for “grocery shopping list”, which have doubled this April compared to February.

Along with “Shop Tab”, the company has also recently launched a partnership with Shopify to make it easier for businesses to upload catalogs to Pinterest, and also announced a new feature called shopping spotlights, that helps to shop curated picks from influencers and publishers with shopping spotlights.