Skip to main content

Pinterest makes a push into ecommerce with “Buy” button

Possibly an attempt to generate affiliate revenue through user pinned content, Pinterest is planning on launching a “Buy” button on the site that will give users the ability to purchase items without actually leaving Pinterest. Aiming for an unnamed 2015 release date within the next six months, the company will likely run a trial of the service with users to gauge interest. Assuming users actually purchase items through Pinterest using the new functionality, the social network could take a small percentage of those sales through affiliate relationships with retailers.

First reported by Re/code, Stripe is reported to handle all currency transactions. This is the same service that’s being used by Twitter and Facebook to process purchases. Hypothetically, retailers will be able to take significant advantage of a purchasing function on the company’s official Pinterest page. For instance, a brand like L.L Bean could add the Buy button to all products and attempt to generate sales within the 5.3 million users that follow the company’s page.

Recommended Videos

It’s likely that Pinterest will limit usage of the Buy button to retailers that are capable of fulfilling orders promptly and leave all communication about the order up to the retailer. Opening up the purchasing function to a larger audience, such as Etsy or eBay sellers, could become problematic due to a larger number of logistics issues with order fulfillment.

It’s also likely that Pinterest will have a significant focus on mobile platforms when launching the Buy button, specifically because 75 percent of all traffic to the site comes through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

When asked about the new Buy button, a Pinterest representative declined to comment to Re/code. Instead, the representative released a statement which read “Part of our strategy to help people discover new things, save them, and do these things in real life has always been to make Pins more useful.”

Mike Flacy
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Reddit just achieved something for the first time in its 20-year history
The Reddit logo.

Reddit’s on a roll. The social media platform has just turned a profit for the first time in its 20-year history, and now boasts a record 97.2 million daily active users, marking a year-over-year increase of 47%. A few times during the quarter, the figure topped 100 million, which Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a letter to shareholders had been a “long-standing milestone” for the site.

The company, which went public in March, announced the news in its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.

Read more
Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone
TikTok splash screen on an Android phone.

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.
So, what does going dark mean?
So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Read more