What if I asked you which social network would have the fastest-growing pile of cash stacking up in front of its doorstep in a few year’s time? Some of you would give me the “I-have-no-clue” response: Facebook, no, Twitter then?, others would try to come up with a very niche, hipster guess such as Ello or Bristlr, but chances are these aren’t the correct answers. Don’t get me wrong, I am no soothsayer, but I kinda listen to what is being said in the marketplace (or at least I try… sometimes… ok, maybe not that often… anyways.) and the trendy word out there probably isn’t the one you are thinking about (or should definitely come and write this article instead of me). For the past week or so, the magic word that says it all, the name that makes people’s head go crazy like a spinning-top is nothing but Pinterest!
Noisy rumors were right. What many expected to come sooner or later has been announced: a “buy it” button will eventually appear on each buyable pin that you have chosen to keep on your profile. Spending (loads?) of money has never been so easy on social media. Purchasers will have the choice to pay using their credit card or Apple Pay (See! What did I tell you a couple of months back?). Be reassured, during the announcement, the privately held company did not forget to mention the millions of products, which will be available from its initial brand partners. “Cash is King”, that’s what I have always been told in my finance classes
Do you see me coming? Yep, Pinterest is entering the Ecommerce industry and it’s looking pretty huge from where I am standing. Its 70 million monthly users may sound like a joke to Facebook or Twitter, but its revenue potential for the years to come just sky rocketed within a couple of days after the announcement.
If you are still following (or reading) me at this point, you may wonder how Facebook and Twitter let that happen without seizing the opportunity. The answer is that consumers don’t trust these guys. Privacy issues scandals are not good fit when you want to have access to your customers’ financial information. Another reason would be that our consumption processes on these social media are different. We go on Facebook or Twitter to share some moments of our lives with our friends and family through posts or pictures (#selfie) whereas things are different on Pinterest. When visiting the website (or the app), we have already developed an unconscious form of shopping mood. Pinterest plays it smart by removing the gap between “I want it” and “I own it”.
Nonetheless, bear in mind that the “buy it” option isn’t available just yet. Still, I can safely say that they will create something quite amazing as it has been reported that the social network received $11 million in funding to “build and test” the feature over the months to come. With that kind of money, they probably won’t spend it all on one blue button. Or will they? I kinda like the idea that Pinterest could go after the likes of Amazon or Ebay. Are they too big to fail? What do you think?
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