In the next few weeks, mobile pinners will be able to purchase 30 million products from brands like Nordstrom, Macy’s and Neiman Marcus directly from Pinterest. If a pin has a “Buy It” button, users can click to purchase with Apple Pay or credit card.
Despite Pinterest’s ever-expanding valuation, brand presence on the platform is experiencing a slump. The number of active brands on the platform declined 5% between July 2013 and June 2014 across all industries, according to L2’s latest social platforms study.
Even the most active brands on Pinterest are struggling to maintain a reach similar to what is possible on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. For example, the top brands on Pinterest in L2’s latest Fashion study (Burberry, Marc Jacobs) had just 2.3 million and 1.7 million followers. Outside of the top two, brand reach seemed negligible.
The buy button, which offers a hassle-free mobile commerce option with Apple Pay integration – could encourage more fashion and retail brands to invest in growing their Pinterest following. Home Care, however, is one category where more brands have been adopting Pinterest. While only a small portion of brands (Method, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day) in L2’s Home Care study offer direct-to-consumer DTC, grocery e-commerce is projected to make up to 17% of grocery sales in the next five years. Pinterest’s buy buttons provide an opportunity for brands to forge partnership with e-tailers and guide consumers down the purchase funnel.
