With the Christmas shopping season upon us, Adele Cooper, UK and Ireland Country Manager at Pinterest looks at how to inspire last minute shoppers.
Long gone are the days when the first hints of the Christmas season wouldn’t be noticed until December. Nowadays, Christmas displays and retailer campaigns are visible as early as September. While the early kick-off may evokes groans from some, it’s clear there is consumer demand, as we see some people begin their Christmas planning on Pinterest as early as July – twice as early as other shoppable platforms.
The vast majority of people still prefer the ‘last-minute’ approach to Christmas shopping, so although it’s important to start campaigns early, it’s equally important that retailers ensure they’re reaching shoppers right up until Christmas Eve.
With over 2.5 billion holiday and seasonal event Pins (ideas) on the platform globally, Pinterest offers a special value in online shopping as it reaches customers who are in the planning mindset when they’re actively considering what to do or buy next but are yet to decide on the brand they’re going to buy. 87% of people surveyed who use Pinterest say that brands help them find the right products when planning for Christmas (Toluna, Winter holiday survey, March 2018.)
We see people on Pinterest searching for everything from food and drink recipes to gift ideas, party planning ideas, Christmas decorations and make-up tips. This year, searches for top festive fashion looks increased by more than 145% while festive decor ideas increased by more than 30% on Pinterest worldwide. Since Christmas shoppers primarily use Pinterest to discover new ideas and 66% of people surveyed who use Pinterest say Pinterest provides last-minute Christmas ideas, retailers can take advantage of this audience by sharing shopping ideas throughout the festive season (Toluna, Winter holiday survey, March 2018.) For example, Ebay UK saw success last year when it ran a campaign to increase awareness and shopping intent during the Christmas season, which lead to an 8.9 point increase in brand lift favourability and a 13.2 point increase in shopping intent.
One way businesses can reach people is to target them through the audience insights tool available on their business profile. This tool helps businesses know what their audience is searching and saving and allows them to access data, sharing insights on the audiences age, gender, location and device usage, which helps them to decide on which products to feature throughout their content.
Businesses can also make their marketing feel more relevant by creating seasonal content showcasing how particular products fit into shopper’s everyday lives throughout the festive season. Another way is through the use of text overlays making the products more discoverable and informative, such as must-have last minute gift ideas for Dad. Pins that include a descriptive text over an image are increasing in popularity and are up 6% in driving sales over a standard stock image (Pinterest, OCL creative meta analysis, May 2018). This allows Pinners to understand more of the products unique features, as 98% of Pinners report trying new things they find on Pinterest, compared to an average of only 71% of Pinners across social media platforms (Nielsen, May 2017).
As visual shopping is at the top of the list for Christmas shoppers this season, retailers are taking advantage of Pinterest’s newest ad format, Promoted Carousel. With Promoted Carousel, you can include multiple images within a single Pin, which provides a more immersive experience, tells a deeper brand story and gets people excited about why your product is the perfect present for that special person on their list.
Pinterest has introduced the next phase of shopping through improving product discovery, helping shoppers identify the best items for unique tastes. According to a 2018 iProspect study, 57% of people said they made a purchase after seeing content from brands on Pinterest. With Pinterest’s home feed becoming increasingly more personalised and curated to the user’s tastes, it acts as their own personal stylist and shoppable wishlist. More than 250 million people around the world use Pinterest each month looking for new ideas to help them discover and do what they love and people in the UK save more than five million ideas on Pinterest each day.
With over 235 million boards created around festive planning on Pinterest, we’re seeing that more and more people are coming to Pinterest each year for gift inspiration. People on Pinterest have purchasing power and intent. They are 39% more likely to be active retail shoppers – and when they shop, they spend 29% more than people who don’t use Pinterest (Oracle Data Cloud May 2017).
By ensuring content is relevant and useful to the audience you’re trying to reach, buyers who are searching and saving on Pinterest will be drawn to your products to complete their Christmas shopping list! To get started using Pinterest for your business, find helpful tips on the Pinterest Business blog.
By Adele Cooper
UK and Ireland Country Manager
Pinterest