Social commerce is growing globally, powered in no small part by frictionless embedded payments. Following recent announcements by TikTok, Instagram, and other leading social media sites, Pinterest announced new shopping capabilities, including product tagging on Pins and a shopping API. These new features will provide merchants with access to new product metadata, making it easier for merchants to create engaging shopping experiences for users.
Pinterest Will Reach Shoppers Earlier in the Journey?
“At Pinterest, our goal is to turn inspiration into action, and our vision for shopping is to make it possible to buy anything Pinners are inspired by on the platform,” said Jeremy King, the senior vice president of Engineering at Pinterest, in a statement. “In 2021, the number of Pinners engaging with shopping surfaces on Pinterest grew over 215%, and 89% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their path to purchase. The new shopping features such as the API for Shopping allows brands and retailers to reach high-intent Pinners during the earliest stage of their shopping journey with the most updated catalog data.”
Social Commerce is Changing the Way Consumers Shop
For more information, Mercator Advisory Group has written a report on social commerce and its impact on payments.
Social media started as a place for people to connect, while search engines were the way consumers shopped for what they wanted. With social commerce, social media sites are becoming more like shopping malls where consumers can both socialize and shop.
Social commerce is the buying and selling of goods or services directly within a social media platform. It changes social media’s role by allowing consumers to complete the entire purchase process without leaving their preferred social media apps.
This research report looks at social commerce, some of the current features and platforms, and where social commerce may be headed in the future.
Overview by Don Apgar, Director, Merchant Services Advisory Practice at Mercator Advisory Group