Horticulture retailer Gardener’s Supply Company is one of the first marketers to jump on board Pinterest’s new buyable pin option to reap the early-bird-gets-the-worm benefits.

As Pinterest’s buyable pins reach the United States, retailers will be leveraging the intimate sponsored experience to drive digital sales through integrated links, which allow users to seamlessly purchase merchandise through sponsored posts and maximize impulse buying. As the platform is new, the pool of partners is small, allowing retailers such as Gardener’s Supply Company to reach a wide range of consumers without the added cluttered of other advertisers.

“We wanted to participate early and enjoy any benefits of being first mover and in a less crowded space,” said Max Harris, vice president of ecommerce at Gardener’s Supply Company. “More than that, though, we want to meet our consumer where she is and at her convenience.

“Buyable pins helps us accomplish this,” he said. “Our customer is passionate about gardening and nature, a key audience on Pinterest, as well.

“In fact, Pinterest is a big traffic source for us already, with over 4 million pins linking to us. The opportunity convert those pins to transactions, and to make buying more convenient for our customers, is wonderful.”

First come first serve
Users on the Pinterest application are now able to make us of its buyable pins as of June 30. The sponsored posts appear similar to a traditional pin, but users can continue on to purchase the item, rather than simply storing it in on their Pinterest boards.

The buyable posts will include a button that reads buy it, in which users click to purchase the item. To finalize the sale, customers can either use Apple Pay or a credit card.

The sponsored pins open up the door for many retailers with the Pinterest demographic such as Gardener’s Supply Company. Many pinners take to the social media app to search for products or ideas that coincide with home improvement and gardening, among a wide range of other sectors.

Gardener’s Supply Company has an advantage right now, as the advertising space is new and consumers are not yet tired of sponsored posts cluttering their feeds on Pinterest.

The buyable pin offers an organic option to traditional advertising. Pinterest is a space in which users are searching for merchandise to save for future purchasing and these pins take the form of existing content.

The gardening retailer is ensuring a greater number of sales as it decreases time in between interest in a particular item and purchasing. The greater time between the beginning process of a customer experience and the final sale, the more chance a sale can be lost.

Updating Pinterest
Along with Pinterest’s new buyable pin, the social media platform is allowing brands the tools to generate higher sales by incorporating past purchasing history to serve more relevant content to consumers (see more).

Many marketers are keen to get involved with Pinterest. Recently, Kay Jewelers geared up to drive sales ahead of Mother’s Day with the rollout of Pinterest pages that offer guests eye-catching visuals and more means of engagement with the brand, alongside a sweepstakes for a shopping spree at a local store, proving that social-enabled contests are still potent (see more).

“This is all very new,” Mr. Harris said. “We need to better understand the opportunity before we plan for the future.

“Early on, we will focus on ensuring a clean purchase experience operationally,” he said. “We will study the trends and seek to optimize as time goes on.

“We also plan to invest even more in our brand presence on Pinterest, marrying our products with content that helps people be better gardeners.”

Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Commerce Daily