Pinterest is launching a new way to allow users to buy products from their phone, from things they have seen in the real world, along with many other updates. The company founder and CEO Ben Silbermann said that, “these features are a big step in helping Pinterest become more of a shopping hub.”
“Our new search tech allows you to shop online for products you find offline in magical moments of inspiration that until now, you haven’t been able to take action on,” Pinterest’s president Tim Kendall said on Tuesday at the conference in San Francisco.
The ‘Camera search,’ which will be available within the coming months, will allow users to take a photo of an object, such as a pair of sunglasses they like, and find that item and similar products on Pinterest.
This isn’t Pinterest first initiative at turning Pinterest into an online shopping store. In 2015 the company debuted Buyable Pins, which gave users the ability to click on “pinned” products that have a Buy option, and scroll through to find the size and color they are looking for, and then purchase with credit card or Apple Pay.
“Shopping with Pinterest is meant to be that bridge between getting inspiration and making it part of your real life,” Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann said on Tuesday. “When people go on Pinterest, they are constantly looking for new ideas, which often lead them to buy something at a later time.”
One of the ways Pinterest will be improving the customer’s experience shopping is by adding the buy option for computers and not just mobile devices. Pinterest shoppers will also be able to add all of their items into a shopping bag to save for later. Similar to Amazon, Pinterest will also suggest other items based on the user’s shopping cart.
Although Pinterest does not currently make money on its “Buy” option, and currently is making money solely based on advertisements. These updates will be an important step for the company, improving the online shopping experience for customers, will mean more traffic, more advertisements, and more profit.