Pinterest continues to expand its eCommerce offerings, with a range of new shopping and brand showcase features, providing more ways for merchants to connect with Pinners, and maximize their opportunities.

First off, Pinterest is adding a new ‘Slideshow for Collections’ promotion option, which will source products from your uploaded catalog “into an automatically generated, attention-grabbing collections ad”.

As you can see here, the new Slideshow for Collections ad unit will appear in-stream in relevant searches, helping to reach people that have already shown interest in similar products.

When tapped, the unit then expands into a more focused collection of your products, again, all automatically generated based on your inventory.

The option will provide more ways to reach shoppers at the right time, while also showcasing related products to help maximize your sales opportunities.

Pinterest is also adding new merchant details to brand profiles, which will enable businesses to showcase their values in the app.

As explained by Pinterest:

“[Merchants can] display brand values like “responsibly sourced,” “invested in good” and “inclusive” on your profile. You can also highlight communities you belong to, such as “Black-owned,” “Latinx-owned,” “Woman-owned,” “LGBTQ+ owned,” “Disability-owned” and more.”

That provides another way to facilitate stronger brand connection, especially among more socially-conscious, younger shoppers who are increasingly looking to buy from brands that align with their values.

Pinterest is also expanding its Verified Merchant Program, which highlights businesses that meet Pinterest’s customer service and brand connection guidelines with a verified checkmark in the app.

Launched last year in the US, Pinterest’s Verified Merchant program ensures that more businesses are linking their product catalog into the app, while also adhering to Pinterest’s customer response standards.   

Pinterest has been steadily expanding the program, with businesses in several regions now able to apply for the blue tick.

“[The Verified Merchant Program] is now available in several more countries, including Austria, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Verified Merchants get enhanced distribution on Pinterest, as well as a special “verified” badge that helps build Pinner trust.”

Which is probably the key value proposition here – verified merchants also “become eligible for increased distribution within high-intent shopping experiences and metrics like conversion reporting", in addition to the official marker.

It could well be worth exploring – you can learn more about Pinterest’s Verified Merchant program here.

And finally, Pinterest is also testing a new sponsored content option for Idea Pins, which is Pinterest’s take on the Stories format.

“Building on our immersive Idea Pin format, we’re testing Idea Ads with paid partnership. This new format is a joint partnership between creators and advertisers. The creator makes an Idea Pin, and tags a brand partner. From there, the advertiser can promote the Idea Pin as an Idea Ad.”

Sponsored Idea Pins are displayed with a profile image of the creator, along with a “Paid Partnership” tag to disclose the brand relationship.

Pinterest is trying out various Idea Pin options, inspired by the latest social media trends, including advanced video creation tools, enhanced sharing options (i.e. sharing Idea Pins to Facebook and Instagram Stories with Pinterest branding) and TikTok-like remix functionality.

The format provides Pinterest with a whole new canvas to work with, and it’s using that to tap into these newer content trends in order to expand its appeal, and connect with a wider audience who are looking to shop via Stories and find relevant products and inspiration.

Sponsored Idea Pins will also, importantly, provide Pinterest with another means to help creators earn money, and get paid for their efforts, which will ensure more, higher quality Idea Pins keep flowing.

It could well be a good option to consider for your promotions – you can learn more about promoted Idea Pins here.

Christmas is gearing up to be a key period for Pinterest, with more people shopping in the app, more often, and becoming more reliant on the platform to help identify key trends, and find the latest items of relevance to them.

Indeed, Pinterest says that active Pinners are 7x more likely to say it’s the most influential platform in their purchase journey, compared to social media networks, while shoppers on Pinterest have 85% bigger baskets than those in other social apps.

There’s a reason Pinterest has seen a massive surge in usage amid the pandemic, and while its growth has slowed somewhat this year, Pinterest will be hoping that it can expand the latest shopping trends into more habitual behaviors, which will help to advance its prospects moving forward.