For the second year in a row, online fashion retailer, ASOS, is the most popular UK online retail site when it comes to having web content shared on Pinterest, the pin-board style social network, in the run up to Christmas.
In a study of ten top UK retail sites, images and pages from asos.com are being shared most frequently on Pinterest, with Amazon UK and John Lewis taking second and third positions respectively.
Content from asos.com currently generates the highest average number of pins (shares) per week² (7,202) on Pinterest, nearly five times more than amazon.co.uk (1,620 pins) and almost seven times more than johnlewis.com (1,096 pins). The findings come from a study by the provider of the leading global search experience optimisation platform, Searchmetrics.
In total 656,851 links to content on asos.com were found to have been pinned (shared) by Pinterest users at the time of the study (w/e 21 November, 2014). This was significantly more than johnlewis.com which came second with a total of 198,697 pins, and amazon.co.uk in third place with a total of 176,990 pins identified.
Pinterest, the four year old social network which has over 70 million active users lets people collect images, articles and other primarily visual, online information on virtual pin boards that they share with friends and followers on the site.
By acting as a virtual shop window that enables people to share images and videos of retailers’ products, Pinterest is part of the growing trend for social commerce which involves social media sites supporting social interaction and user contributions to facilitate online buying and selling of products and services.
“Pinterest plays an important role in introducing consumers to retail products they may not be aware of and also drives traffic back to online retailers’ product pages because each pin incorporates a link to the original web page where the content can be found,” explained Marcus Tober, CTO and founder of Searchmetrics, which provides software for tracking search engine and social media data including Pinterest pins.
Nine out of ten retailers in Searchmetrics’ study were found to have set up their own official Pinterest pages3. The only site without its own page was amazon.co.uk⁴. Asos.com’s Pinterest page shows it is leading the way on Pinterest by attracting 198,385 followers, nearly four times greater than the nearest other retailer, tesco.com, with 41,878 followers.
Top UK Retailers on Pinterest in the Christmas 2014 shopping season
1. asos.com, (http://www.pinterest.com/asos/), 7,202 pins per week, 656,851 total pins, 198,385 followers
2. amazon.co.uk, 1,620 pins per week, 176,990 total pins
3. johnlewis.com, (http://www.pinterest.com/johnlewisretail/), 1,096 pins per week, 198,697 total pins, 8,875 followers
4. marksandspencer.com, (http://www.pinterest.com/marksandspencer/), 761 pins per week, 53,321 total pins, 14,745 followers
5. tesco.com, (http://www.pinterest.com/tesco/) 586 pins per week, 35,764 total pins, 41,878 followers
6. next.co.uk, (http://www.pinterest.com/nextofficial/), 554 pins per week, 131,857 total pins, 13,856 followers
7. debenhams.com, (http://uk.pinterest.com/debenhams/), 531 pins per week, 119,970 total pins, 9,884 followers
8. argos.co.uk, (http://www.pinterest.com/argosonline/), 508 pins per week, 36,556 total pins, 26,986 followers
9. asda.com, (http://www.pinterest.com/asda/), 448 pins per week, 22,712 total pins, 3,753 followers
10. diy.com (B&Q), (http://uk.pinterest.com/bandq/), 71 pins per week, 8,312 total pins, 3,785 followers
Among retailers‘ seasonal Pinterest boards this year, John Lewis has created a board featuring images and products related to its Monty the Penguin Christmas TV advert and a board from its Christmas Press Day 2014 which went live in July to give shoppers an early look at what would be in-store at Christmas. Argos has a Pinterest board to publicise its Argos Toy Exchange charity scheme in partnership with Barnardo’s and supported by Denise Van Outen.
Asos has a Holidays Pinterest board which features products and images from Asos.com as well as other sites and retailers. Asda has a variety of Christmas themed pages showing products and recipes including Christmas Dinner, Party Food and Christmas Home pages which feature content from Asda as well as non-Asda properties such as JamieOliver.com and BBCGoodFood.com.
”While the biggest aim for retailers is to showcase their own products on Pinterest, it’s interesting to see many of them coming up with ways to engage people through charity promotions and sharing interesting seasonal content ‒ even products and information from other retailers which could be useful to their target customers. It shows that many retailers do understand that social media is about sharing and adding value for users – as well as selling products.”
Recipes and infographics are among the most pinned content from retailers with an Asda recipe for a Playful Penguins Christmas Cake being pinned 3,075 times and a Tesco Jack Daniels and Coke Cupcakes recipe generating 437 pins.
Argos’s most pinned content is an infographic depicting The History of Lego which has been pinned 4,619 times while Next’s most pinned content is an infographic showing The Discerning Gentleman’s Guide to Suit Tailoring (19,353 pins) as well as The Discerning Gentleman’s Guide to Shoes (6,692 pins)
The single most pinned content from all the retail sites in the study is a purple bed linen set from the Kylie Minogue at Home collection from Debenhams which has held on to top position since 2013 with a total of 86,079 pins. The second spot was also the same as last year with a Road Trip fashion look which was uploaded to the looks pages (where shoppers can upload their favourite looks and trends) on the asos.com web site (51,588 pins).