How Pinterest Quietly Became a Big Deal

I’ve been interested to watch Pinterest’s evolving ad and e-commerce strategy over the past 24 months. Prior, Pinterest existed primarily as a popular discovery platform, particularly amongst a Millennial and Gen Z audience. However over the past 2 years there has been a definite shift in intention to convert that audience into an active in-platform shopper.

Why? Active shopping intention is an easier audience to sell to advertisers looking to drive sales. In autumn of 2024 Pinterest launched Performance+, its AI Powered Performance tool. Pinterest CRO Bill Watkins talks openly about moving away from selling views to selling clicks and these efforts appear to be reaping rewards with latest earnings reporting ＄3.65 billion.

From a Tambo perspective, I’m interested in how the partnership with Amazon evolves & what this could mean for our clients. Shoppers now have the option to buy products, linking directly to Amazon. This also leverages Amazon’s obvious fulfillment capabilities, allowing Pinterest to focus on user experience, traffic & monetization.

With valuable 1st party data, future retail integrations and a performance marketing playbook to learn from (dos AND dont’s), the runway looks promising. The obvious challenge will be maintaining a positive user experience whilst increasing ad load.

I’d love to be able to test discovery to purchase journey with brands selling on Amazon - let me know if you’d be interested!