Pinterest often sees increased activity during peak shopping periods like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the Thanksgiving period. Many users turn to Pinterest for gift ideas, holiday decorating inspiration, and recipes, which leads to increased engagement on the platform.
Advertisers often ramp up their promotional activities on Pinterest during these peak shopping times. Pinterest has a range of advertising tools, including Promoted Pins and Shopping Ads, which businesses can use to reach potential customers.
These ads can lead to increased click-through rates and conversions, especially when they’re well-targeted to Pinterest’s user base.
Additionally, Pinterest has released features like shopping spotlights and shoppable pins which make it easier for users to purchase products directly from pins. These features can contribute to increased sales during peak shopping periods.
We analyzed traffic and revenue per visit, and was based on an examination of 400 brands on the platform.
Here’s a summary of what we discovered:
- The number of people visiting Pinterest didn’t change on Cyber Monday, Black Friday, or over the Thanksgiving weekend. This was expected as most people were focused on shopping, not exploring new things.
- Despite this, Pinterest’s revenue doubled during the Thanksgiving weekend and on Black Friday. Even more impressive, it increased by 3.6 times on Cyber Monday compared to the average daily revenue of the preceding 30 days. This highlights how effective Pinterest is at boosting online sales.
- The most popular tags and images on Pinterest were connected with people pinning and buying boots and coats.
On Cyber Monday, people were more focused on buying than discovering new things. As a result, there wasn’t a significant increase in the overall number of clicks on pins or visitors leaving Pinterest.
However, due to the high shopping intent on Cyber Monday, the revenue from these visits was 3.6 times higher (and twice as high on Black Friday and over the Thanksgiving weekend).
This shows that people don’t just pin for the fun of it. They pin with the intention to purchase and turn to Pinterest when they want to find products to buy. Users often pin items before buying them, and they revisit their previous pins when they’re ready to make a purchase.
Most of these purchases (from their own pins) occur between 2 days and 4 weeks after pinning.
Retailers that made their websites pin-friendly during November found their products pinned and ready to be purchased. Actively pinning and making a website suitable for pinning can lead to a greater presence of a retailer’s products on Pinterest.
More pins mean more clicks, and more clicks mean more revenue. For more details on Pinterest’s viral loop, click here.
Brands and retailers that were active pinners in the weeks before Cyber Monday likely saw the benefits. Pinterest pins have a lifespan of over 2.5 months, so brands should start pinning now to make the most of the holiday shopping season.
Remember, Pinners pin before they buy, and at the moment, the traffic and revenue from Pinterest is basically free.
