When the social network of Pinterest first started in March of 2010, people loved it as a visual place to create their holiday "wish-list" boards. They would create boards of stuff they liked online and would never know where it would lead to.
Well, these wish-lists are now becoming a true reality, as Pinterest is becoming both a true e-commerce and brick-n-mortar player!
Back in May, the photo-sharing network began allowing "rich pins", which allows users to post detailed information about an item, such as the originating image site and product purchase information. Now they are taking it one step further by providing price drop summarized email notifications to its users for photos they pinned. That can be huge for e-commerce, as Pinterest users spend on average of 14 minutes a session on the social network, an eternity in cyber-space!
But, not only is Pinterest leading people to a business website for e-commerce purposes but according to recent data distributed by the Vision Council and Harvard Business Review, 21% of Pinterest users had bought an item in an actual store after pinning, repining or liking the item on Pinterest.
This new way of buying shows that consumers now aren't just searching for products online and making a purchase, but also going into actual physical stores to make the final transaction.
Social-commerce is just getting started and if you aren't involved now, you are missing out on a huge opportunity both for online and offline business!