Pinterest launches international shopping tools to help global expansion

Visual search engine Pinterest has recently launched a new international shopping product suite, designed to help ecommerce businesses expand their marketing campaigns across new markets.

The new features aim to simplify everything from campaign management and product localisation to performance tracking, allowing retailers to reach international audiences without the need to manage separate product catalogues for every market.

What is Pinterest’s international shopping product suite?

For online stores looking to grow internationally, Pinterest is launching new performance and localisation tools to simplify campaign management across multiple markets.

This includes its new “Markets View” element, which offers insights from multiple regions in one place. With this, marketers can track campaign performance (such as impressions and Pin clicks) divided by specific countries or regions. They can also compare cross-border performance, adjust budgets and strategy as needed, and download performance reports.

Additionally, its AI-powered localisation tool that automatically translates product titles and descriptions into the local language and converts prices into the local currency for each market.

Pinterest’s multi-currency campaigns and ad groups also allow businesses to “test and learn” several new markets, as the platform allows users to run a single shopping campaign or ad group to several markets at once, as well as handle bidding, budgets and delivery through Pinterest Performance+.

The opportunities for ecommerce businesses

As Pinterest continues to expand its shopping offerings, the latest updates aim to make it easier for retailers to connect with customers around the world.

According to data by Technology Checker, while Pinterest only holds a 0.08% share of the social media marketing technology market, there is ample opportunity to reach a new market without the burden of juggling multiple product catalogues or heavy investment that can come with usual international expansion.

It also found that the US and UK have the highest number of Pinterest customers, each accounting for 39.2% and 9.6% of users, respectively. Among non-English-speaking countries, Brazil leads the way at 7.0%, followed by France (6.1%), Spain (5.4%) and Germany (5.1%). 

Promoting products in local languages and currencies can also create a better customer experience, particularly for those who may not understand English well, in turn increasing engagement and conversion rates.

Moreover, as Pinterest is increasingly positioning itself as a shopping and product discovery platform, localised listings could help businesses reach consumers earlier in the buying journey. After all, 80% of users have made a purchase via Pinterest, making localised product information an important factor in turning inspiration into sales.

What to consider before expanding into new markets

Despite the benefits, retailers will still need to think carefully about how they manage international growth.

For example, automatically translating product information isn’t enough, as retailers still need to make sure sizing, legal requirements, imagery, promotions and customer messaging are appropriate for each market.

Better international visibility may be good for brand awareness, but businesses need to consider that this may lead to demand that they aren’t operationally prepared to fulfil. 

53% of ecommerce businesses also say that fulfilment costs that come with international expansion have become their biggest barrier for growth, so retailers will have to carefully balance growth opportunities with investment in logistics and cross-border fulfilment capabilities to avoid hurting profit margins.

Overall, Pinterest’s new international shopping tools could lower some of the technical barriers to selling across borders, but success will still depend on a business’s cross-border strategy, including logistics, pricing and local market knowledge. While the technology simplifies merchandising, it doesn’t eliminate the complexities of international ecommerce.