Pinterest Shopping Ads now out of testing, available to hundreds of advertisers

Now that Pinterest has moved its Shopping Ads out of testing, the program is available to hundreds of advertisers.

Pinterest’s Shopping Ads, launched last year, were first used by a limited number of major brands, including Ulta Beauty, Venus, Overstock, Lowe’s, eBay, Wayfair and IKEA Canada. The ad product allows advertisers to create ads automatically on the platform by pulling images from their product feeds.

“With Shopping Ads, businesses can seamlessly turn their product catalog into visual, actionable ads,” writes Shounak Simlai on the Pinterest Business Blog. “Since Shopping Ads pull automatically from an existing product feed, they’re especially useful for brands that want to scale their Pinterest advertising.”

In addition to offering its Shopping Ads to more businesses, Pinterest says it is testing new ad designs aimed at prompting “more visual shopping cues” and expanding its Shop the Look program (an ad product for fashion and home decor brands that allows users to shop directly from a Pin) to France, Germany, Japan and the UK.

According to Pinterest, Shopping Ads have consistently driven larger basket sizes, new customer acquisition and faster conversions for its beta partners. Pinterest says IKEA Canada was able to lower its overall cost per order by 25 percent, and Lowe’s lifted its return on ad spend 76 percent higher than their initial goal. Ulta Beauty was another beta user that says it was happy with the return it saw from the Shopping Ads.

“Through non-branded search we’ve been successful in enabling Ulta Beauty to connect with beauty enthusiasts earlier in the consideration phase which has led to increased awareness and purchase,” says the beauty brand’s vice president of digital and e-commerce, Prama Bhatt.

To qualify for the Shopping Ads program, businesses are instructed to complete a Pinterest Propel Program sign-up form. Once it receives the form, Pinterest says it will contact businesses directly with next steps. Per the announcement, advertisers can set up Shopping Ads through either Pinterest or its marketing partners, 4C and Kenshoo.

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Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.