Pinterest is Not Influencing Purchasing Decisions

Allison Howen
by Allison Howen 15 Mar, 2012
Pinterest is Not Influencing Purchasing Decisions

It is no secret that Pinterest has taken the Internet by storm, reaching the elevated status of a top 30 site according to Hitwise. A new study, however, reveals that the social sharing site is not actually influencing consumer purchasing decisions - at leaset not directly.

 

The study from Prosper Mobile Insights shows that only 13 percent of survey respondents either somewhat or strongly agree that Pinterest influences their purchasing decisions.

 

And although the social pin board site has gained a lot of traffic in a short period of time, receiving an average of 89 minutes of time spent on site per visitor in January alone according to comScore, it is not enough to catapult Pinterest into a top player in the mobile social shopping arena. 

 

In fact, social shopping in general on mobile hasn't fully taken off. According to the study, approximately 85 percent of respondents claim to look up product information on their smartphones and tablets; however only 4.7 percent of these people first visit a social media site for this information. Most respondents (43.7%) use general Internet search when browsing product information on their mobile device.

 

"Although social shopping is not yet prominent, mobile shopping is," says Pam Goodfellow, Consumer Insights Director at BIGinsight. "General Internet searches, visiting retailer websites, and using apps to compare prices on the fly are the new norm for mobile-savvy shoppers."

 

Perhaps the new iPad app and redesigned profiles that Pinterest is reportedly planning to release will spike consumer's interest in browsing pinboards for product purchases. However, retailers and website owners can view all images that others have pinned from their website by adding their website's URL (sans the https://www.) into the second half of the Pinterest source URL. For example: https://pinterest.com/source/websitemagazine.com.

 
Allison Howen
Allison Howen
I'm a creative and adaptable journalist with experience in both print and digital media. Some of my best attributes include my social media management, writing and video editing skills. Skills: • Managing social media accounts with tools like HootSuite and Sprout Social • Creating and marketing content for print and digital media • Editing videos with software like Avid Media Composer • Composing articles with Adobe InCopy • Strong knowledge of AP Style • Skilled at interviewing and writing • Able to work on a deadline and produce quality results • Organized and detail oriented • Innovative problem solver