Pinterest is a photo sharing social website. Users can manage and post images and videos on a board. Thus, creating a pin board of the user’s interests. Earlier this year, it is reported that Pinterest has over 11 million unique users. It is the fastest social media company to reach 10 million unique visitor mark. It has more than 11 million visits per week. Also, Fox reported that it drove more traffic to retailers than YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn.
Pinterest is experiencing tremendous growth despite new users must get an invite from current users. But it is undoubtedly that the company will continue to grow to be one of the biggest social media website along with Twitter and Facebook. For a retail company Pinterest is like another venue. Many retail companies have already posted pictures of their products along with prices and links to their Facebook, Twitter, and website. Pinterest is becoming a must for retail companies to connect with their customers. Website with a loyal fan base will definitely take advantage of Pinterest to interact with their customers.
I’ve been reading a bit about Pinterest as well and was surprised to find that in the US, 83% of users were females ages between 35-44. Such a narrow demographic should present golden opportunities for companies to tap into a segment where users are a) likely to be married and b) have a good amount of disposable income. Unfortunately, from what I’ve read, Pinterest is not very profitable, especially given that there are no obvious advertisements on the website. Pinterest only receives a portion of the sale when a user purchases an item (since Pinterest connects users directly to the company’s commercial website). I am sure Pinterest will continue to look into other revenue streams to capitalize on their 11 million+ users.