August 21, 2013
For brands using social media increased exposure and awareness is great, but knowing that your profiles are having the desired impact and driving people to purchase is the end goal.
A new study from the Harvard Business Review has found that Pinterest in particular is having a big impact on driving traffic and influencing purchases, particularly in the retail sector.
Pinterest is now influencing more purchases than ever before, with 20% of users on the platform purchasing in-store after pinning or liking something on Pinterest. But it’s not brands that are directly influencing users to buy, it’s the pins from other consumers.
It’s known that 80% of pins on the site are ‘re-pins’ and people sharing content from others, but these re-pins are leading to sales for brands, as 60% of Pinterest purchases were discovered via the Pinterest channel, mostly through updates posted by ‘friends’ or ‘strangers’.
So what does this mean? Brands have to make it easy for users to pin images from their site and in order to entice people to buy, they need to have as much product information as possible, to allow consumers to make a full decision and then go and buy.
As we approach the end of summer and creep closer towards the Christmas rush in a few months time, it is the premium time for brands to get involved in Pinterest and take advantage of its power to drive sales, by highlighting specific Pinterest offers and then encourage users to buy in-store. For more stats, see this infographic
Have you found Pinterest to be useful in driving sales? Share your thoughts in the comment box below!
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