Pinterest Ramps Up E-Commerce Features

Pinterest on Tuesday unveiled new features to facilitate shopping on the social network, as the platform pushes to become an e-commerce hub. One of the most notable changes to the platform is the addition of a virtual shopping bag. When "pinners" are browsing the site, they can add items to their virtual shopping bag and they will be available for purchase in one spot. Currently the feature is available on Android devices and Pinterest for desktop. The team is still working out the iOS update for Apple mobile devices.

Total Retail's Take: With last year's announcement of buyable pins, Pinterest put itself firmly between the cross-sections of social, search and e-commerce. Pinterest is capitalizing on users’ "commercial intent" and drawing upon its ideal position to display native advertising for trips, clothing or other offerings, according to company president Tim Kendall. I think the new features will be a real game changer for retailers trying to attract the newly identified third-party social consumer. I'm excited to see how the platform grows.