It seems to be the thing to do at the moment with social media platforms. Platform Pinterest appears to be the latest social media service to add in a ‘buy now’ function.
The post from the company announcing the function said it will be launching in the US soon, with no mention whether it will come to Australia.
Not being able to buy something straight from Pinterest is one gripe many of its users have uttered, said the post, with Pinterest intent on eliminating this pain point.
“Here at Pinterest, we want to make it easier for people to go out and do the things they Pin for the future—whether that’s figuring out the ingredients they need to make tonight’s dinner or getting the right furniture for their new apartment,” said the post.
“But one thing we’ve heard over and over, from both Pinners and businesses, is that it’d be a whole lot easier to take action if you could actually buy things right on Pinterest.”
https://youtu.be/4-GpAtiSX7o
The ‘buyable pins’ will first be available on iPhone or iPad at the end of the month, however Android users, or those sitting at a desktop, will have to just wait their turn.
Pinterest is working with Apple Pay to enable the payment process on mobile devices, and it says it won’t store credit card details.
“The fewer people who have access your credit card information, the better—and that includes us,” said another post introducing the offering. “That’s why we won’t store your credit card info ourselves. Instead, we’re working with payment processors who’ve been protecting people’s information for years. And when you pay with Apple Pay, it uses a device specific account number instead of your actual credit card number, so neither your device nor Apple Pay will send your actual card number to the seller.
The pins that are able to be bought will include a blue price.
Many other social media platforms are starting to roll out buying functionalities. Last week saw YouTube introduce the shopping function on its pre-roll video ads, and Twitter is still in the process of testing out its own buying offering.
