Pinterest is one among many social media platforms looking to push live-stream shopping activations ahead of the holiday season by pushing the expansion of Pinterest TV Shopping. Having launched Pinterest TV in the US last year, earlier this week the social platform announced that it is as of now available to view in Canada with a focus on providing shopping inspiration for the holidays.
Pinterest TV Shopping is a new feature created to unlock live, original videos for creators and merchants and could provide a new opportunity for the platform to showcase its live-stream shopping tools ahead of the biggest spending season in the world.
Pinterest TV Shopping is one of the many holiday activations platforms are launching to push in-app commerce
“Pinterest is kicking-off ‘Shop the Holidays on Pinterest TV Shopping’ with 10 hours of daily programming running from November 15-18th in Canada and the US. Over sixty brands and four major North American publishers are taking part in the series, which will include over 40 hours of shoppable content.”
Participating brands include JENNY BIRD, Wayfair, and NUDESTIX to name a few. In addition, Pinterest has thoroughly laid out a “Shop The Holidays” programming schedule of dedicated shopping days per category, for example, the 15th would be dedicated to “Food and Festivities”, whereas the 16th would be “Home and Décor” followed by an array of other commerce categories such as beauty, fashion or gift guides.
How would it work?
The programming itself will be categorized by vertical, with a focus on gift-giving and holiday shopping. Where brands, sponsored creators, and influencers will showcase popular gift guide products, announce discounts, and flash sales.
“On Pinterest TV Shopping, brands and creators can showcase and tag products so Pinners can shop and purchase on the retailer’s site. Hosts will have a shopping toolbox to enable live shopping experiences including a product drawer with prices and product details, product drops, and brand collaborations, and a limited-time-offer module to offer discounts.”
As explained on Pinterest Newsroom
Why the big push for live-stream shopping?
Live-stream shopping remains a key area of potential for every social app that’s exploring commerce, based on the rapid ascension of the format in Asian nations. In China, for example, live-stream shopping is projected to drive over $US180 billion in direct sales this year alone, up from $US67 billion in 2019.
As a result, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are all exploring live shopping options. And while it hasn’t caught on with western audiences as yet, with so much potential, you can bet that each app is going to push the option as hard as they can as a means to generate more revenue – both for themselves and creators.
Because amid changing data usage restrictions, and broader economic shifts, this hasn’t been a banner year for social media ads. That’s forced the platforms to explore whatever other options they can, and direct shopping could provide a solid avenue for independent growth.
A larger problem, however, is that adoption of eCommerce hasn’t sustained the growth it saw during the pandemic. Overall, online sales have reverted back to the mean as physical stores have re-opened, and that reduced momentum has also meant that the adoption of live-stream shopping has also been slowed, while western audiences just have been as enthused by live spending.
But it could still take off, and this holiday season seems like the prime opportunity for the platforms to make a big push to see if they can trigger more interest. Ultimately as we wait in anticipation to see the susceptibility of the new feature, whether we like it or not, the push for live-stream shopping is only in its infancy and would sure as likely become the newest form of promotional ads on all social media platforms.
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