Pinterest is one of the coolest kids on the social media block in 2018 and has the highest average order value of any other social media platform, at $50. Here we look at Home Depot's recent “Shop the Look” campaign.
It’s an interesting time for visual search, where consumers are on their smartphones for an average of 5 hours a day and 2 million people are pinning and sharing content on Pinterest every day.
After the launch of Pinterest’s prototype in March of 2010, they have seen a steady increase in revenues from being valued at $1.5 billion in May of 2012, to a June 2015 report that valued the company at $11 billion.
Not to mention, Pinterest is one of the coolest kids on the social media block in 2018 and has the highest average order value of any other social media platform, at $50. Google is even designing their next AI related image search option in a way some people think looks a lot like Pinterest!
Pinterest may be the spot for finding recipes or putting together your next home. But Home Depot is where you actually go and buy the item, so it makes sense to streamline the consumers path to purchase.
That’s exactly what Pinterest’s latest campaign “Shop the look,” aims to do. Lowes successfully partnered with Pinterest earlier this year, and now Home Depot is joining the club.
“Shop the Look” allows users to become instantly connected with Home Depot when they see an item in a picture that they want to purchase. All they have to do is simply tap on the item they’re interested in that displays a white dot.
So, let’s say you’re looking at a picture of a living room that Home Depot posts on Pinterest and you’re interested in the rug. By tapping on the rug, you’ll see the cost, sizes, colors, brands, and have an easy and efficient route to ordering it.
Along with a higher average order value, 90% of ‘Pinners,’ say Pinterest helps them make their purchasing-based decisions, and 78% say it is what they use to find all their new products.
This makes for a lucrative market that Home Depot wouldn’t want to miss out on.
We spoke to Home Depot at the launch of their partnership.
“Through research, we’ve bridged the gap,” said Jonathan Horowitz, Manager of Online Product Management for Home Depot Home.
When asked about the technology behind ‘Shop the Look.’ Jonathan said, “We have some homegrown tools in-house that allow us to group projects into collections and push them out to Pinterest. We also have advanced machine learning algorithms that enable us to find similar products based on style, color, and whatever else they’re looking for.”
Pinterest’s Product Manager, Tim Weingarten also commented and said: “Shop the Look’ combines our computer vision technology with human curation to recommend a variety of related products and styles you can bring to life in just a tap… Just tap the white dots you see on a product in a home or fashion Pin to see recommendations for the exact or similar items from a brand directly.”
The finished product for “Shop the Look” is in the early stages of its technology. Right now, Home Depot are posting their own pictures on Pinterest, but the next level will hopefully be AR based, where you have the option to connect items in your own pictures to stores.
Through trials and research, it’s only a matter of time before you view your friend’s pictures from their day trip to the lake, tap on the kayak they’re in, and you’re brought to stores like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods, looking at prices and sizes for a variety of kayaks and boats to buy your own.
