Is Pinterest the social e-commerce answer?

posted by Dave Allen, Leave a Comment

I wrote about Pinterest recently #, or more accurately, I wrote about being a man who uses Pinterest as I felt there was a rather sexist, elitist, East-West-coast-big-city snobbery aimed at it’s users. One male commentator supplied damning evidence of its “uselessness” because he surmised that the majority of its users were based in “fly-over country.” Who says American education is suffering..?

With news this morning that Pinterest raised $100 million from its backers #, perhaps that bright spark will think again, as this values Pinterest at $1.5 billion. Maybe having an audience that lives and shops in “fly-over country” isn’t such a bad thing?

And shopping is the key to understanding Pinterest’s valuation. The company may be able to provide the answer to increasing e-commerce on the social web. Facebook has been struggling in this arena #

The latest investment round was led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani has this to say:

“While some may see e-commerce as a straightforward vending machine-like experience, we believe it is a living process where both retailers and consumers can communicate, discover, and curate to make the experience more entertaining.

“We see tremendous synergies between Pinterest’s vision and Rakuten’s model for e-commerce. Rakuten looks forward to introducing Pinterest to the Japanese market as well as other markets around the world.”

So, Rakuten sees the potential of Pinterest users, who clip and share items, being motivated to make purchases of those very items they are sharing.

And here’s Pinterest CEO Ben Silberman:

“Our goal is to help people discover things they love, by connecting people through their shared interests. Bringing Rakuten on board gives us an amazing opportunity to move a step closer to this goal.”

I sense that the Rakuten investment isn’t about looking for a return on their money by selling Pinterest to the usual suspects – Facebook, Amazon, Google – but I could be wrong.

And let’s be clear here – don’t confuse Pinterest with a social network like Facebook. That’s not accurate. It’s more akin to Tumblr than Facebook. When using Pinterest you are technically following people’s passions, not those people themselves. Profiles on Pinterest (here’s mine #) are pulled from Twitter for instance, and can be left as simple as that. There is no “timeline” but there are ample opportunities to share everything that’s compelling to you. Think of it as Twitter on steroids where you can post an image with an embedded link and you have the ability to write 500 characters about the story behind the image. Here’s another example #.

And brands will be able to let their followers purchase their goods.

Maybe now we will see brands rushing to ensure that their websites are mobile-friendly and have a seamless mobile e-commerce solution, because I’d hazard a guess that a lot of Pinterest traffic is coming from the iPad.

And above all, your brand site better be Pinterest-friendly.

Stefan Olander, VP Nike: Stop focusing on clicks or Likes

posted by Dave Allen, 4 Comments

Well, well, well. As a proud owner of a Nike+ FuelBand # I agree.

Speaking at the launch of Velocity: The Seven New Laws for a World Gone Digital, which he co-authored with AKQA chairman Ajaz Ahmed, Stefan Olander, vice-president of digital sport for Nike, said brands should stop focusing on clicks or “likes”.

He said: “A whole industry is stuck on trying to force old metrics on to new channels.

“Too many businesses are thinking ‘I need to sell inventory’, rather than ‘How can I add value to a smartphone, or a new device?‘”

On the topic of social media, Olander questioned the recent valuation of digital companies such as Facebook, commenting that a $100bn valuation of a company based upon an advertising model is “a little risky”.

He said: “Advertising is an old model that is being squeezed into the new framework of social media, when the fact is that people don’t want to be interrupted.”

According to Olander, Google AdWords is the only commercial model that is proven to work.

He said: “You look at the Instagram $1bn valuation – and Instagram doesn’t make money.

“But it will be interesting to see, when it is combined with Facebook’s platform, what value that creates.”

Nike has moved away from investing in advertising to the creation of digital services such as Nike+. According to Olander, “once you have established a direct relationship with a consumer, you don’t need to advertise to them”.

Via Media Week #

Being a man on Pinterest

posted by Dave Allen, 5 Comments

Some of my Boards on Pinterest..

Or: Really? Guys are scared of Pinterest?

This morning I read this on Salon.com: Pinterest’s Gender Trouble # . The headline struck me as odd on two levels. 1. Trouble, not problem or issue, but trouble. Strange choice of that word I thought. 2. Really?

I think it’s a meta moment. Either Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams has written a shallow article about, um nothing, no trouble. Or guys are shallow. Or both. As Salon has published the article I suppose it makes it relevant somehow. I think I should write an article about how Twitter is too gender-balanced and how that’s a problem.

Anyway, I think the person who left this comment below is on to something. The word he/she could have used in place of the phrase ‘not as important’ is ‘snobbery.’

vp19
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2012 07:55 AM PDT
There’s also a geographic bent to Pinterest. Studies have shown that a disproportionate percentage of its members are in heartland states such as Iowa, as opposed to tech-centric coastal states such as New York, Massachusetts and California for other social networking sites. So not only does Pinterest trend female, its strength is in “flyover country,” not states teeming with Ivy League and Stanford alums. (Obviously, then, it’s simply not as important.)

Now I doubt that Facebook’s 200 million members in the USA are stuck in “flyover country.” And I guess the guys are ok with Facebook because they can leer at the personal pictures of women posted up there or something. You can’t do that on Pinterest. Oh wait, are we saying that there are no guys in “flyover country”?

In another comment, after a discussion about Cat Ladies, things veer rather too close to homophobia.

disigny
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2012 08:46 AM PDT
Tell the truth now: how many “Cat Gentlemen” do you know?! (who aren’t Gay)

And then there’s the “what females do are totes inscrutable to me..” comment.

MichaelL
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2012 06:44 AM PDT
From a male perspective, Pinterest appears like what I used to see middle or high school girls doing in their bedrooms – cutting out pages from magazines and pasting them together into collages of images. It was inscrutable to me then, and it’s inscrutable to me now. Nevertheless, I’m sure it has resonance with them, so I just figure I’m not their target audience and move along.

I really like Pinterest, I like it a great deal more than Facebook and (gasp!) Engadget. I post manly things on my Boards – I mean who the hell is more manly than Harry Crews? No one, I say, no one! Check him out on my Pinterest! #.