Pinterest, the fastest standalone website to ever get to 10 million unique visitors a month, currently has 25 million members. Many of them are young, female, well-educated and ready to spend their money. Retailers are rushing to get to these potential customers, but Pinterest is an ad-free website.
Retailers are still trying to figure out how to get to the Pinterest market and how to reach out to shoppers in this way. Many retailers now have buttons on their main websites, hoping that potential customers will Pinterest their items. As Kyla Brennan, chief executive of HelloInsights, which provides analyses of Pinterest use, said
“It’s a huge window-shopping platform. It helps people find what they really like. Does it encourage people to be a little impulsive? Of course.”
Companies with a major presence on Pinterest to date include L.L. Bean with over 5 million followers, Nordstrom Inc. with over 4 million followers and Lululemon Athletica Inc with almost 2 million followers. Pinterest recently closed a $200 million round of financing, where they raised their value to $2.5 billion.