Pinterest launches a Shop curated with hand picked items

The company also announced that it is launching Buyable Pins on Android

Every social network is trying to get into e-commerce now, including Facebook and Twitter, who want their users to buy things without ever having to leave the site. The one where it has always made the most sense, though is Pinterest, given how visual it is.

Pinterest finally entered the space when it introduced what it calls "Buyable Pins" over the summer, and now it is taking that a step further.

On Tuesday the company announced that it’s launching the Pinterest Shop, which will feature collections from different brands, including big stores like Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, as well as small boutiques like The Citizenry and Heist.

What's most interesting is that these will be curated collections, ones that will hand-picked by employees at Pinterest. It gives a human element that would not have been there if they were picked by an algorithm.

"Earlier this summer, we rolled out Shop Our Picks on iOS, and learned that Pinners love a curated shopping environment. The Pinterest Shop takes that to a new level, with a fresh design and curated collections and retailers to shop from," Pinterest spokesperson Jamie Favazza told me.

"For example, the collections you'll see under "Today's Picks" feature our favorite seasonal, on trend products. We'll be adding new products and collections to The Pinterest Shop throughout each week."

The Pinterest Shop will be rolling out over the next couple of weeks. All retail partners are eligible for inclusion. There's no fee to be included in The Pinterest Shop since it represents the company's favorite products and retailers in fashion, accessories and home decor.

In addition to that news, Pinterest also announced that it is launching Buyable Pins on Android, after having only been available on iOS since the summer.

"As a catalogue of ideas, our mission isn’t to just show you those ideas, but to help you bring them to life. We first launched Buyable Pins on iOS in June, and have since doubled the number of Buyable Pins to 60 million and announced three new e-commerce platforms, IBM Commerce, Magento and Bigcommerce," said Favazza.

"Large retailers like Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and Neiman Marcus have already joined the platform, in addition to thousands more through Shopify and Demandware."

All retail partners are eligible for inclusion. There's no fee to be included in The Pinterest Shop since it represents our favorite products and retailers in fashion, accessories and home decor.

Buyable Pins allowed users to find things for sale. They have a blue price tag and are discoverable through the home feed, category feeds, search results, recommendations, boards and The Pinterest Shop. Userscan search for Buyable Pins, filter by price and, once they find one, they can scroll through high quality images, select their size and color, click Buy It and pay with a credit card, right from the Pinterest app.

Some of the top Buyable Pin trends include leggings, scarves, graphic shirts, anoraks and brown boots.

Buy buttons

Recently, buy buttons have become a trend on social networks.

Twitter debuted its button in September of last year, and Facebook first launched its Buy Button back in July of last year.

Earlier this year Facebook partnered up with Shopify to allow its merchants to advertise and sell their products and then, last month, it announced a new Shop section, or a single place where users can "more easily discover, share and purchase products." It will be tested with a limited set of small businesses.

(Image source: blog.pinterest.com)