Pinterest x Amazon! Pinterest has announced a multiyear partnership with Amazon. 

Though the companies have not commented on how the ads will be presented to the end users, I think it’s likely that Amazon products will be linked and well-integrated with content on Pinterest. 

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🤠 Good move? 

I think yes. As an incumbent social platform that focuses on “inspiration boards”, Pinterest is well-positioned to capture part of the product-discovery segment within the US social commerce market.  

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❓Questions in mind

No doubt, it’s time for Pinterest to make a move towards social commerce, but is a partnership the best way to go about it? Could ad integrations with e-commerce SMBs be a better move? 

• Based on the current content on Pinterest and 

Though an interesting strategic move, this article is not about Pinterest and Amazon. 

Let’s break down what social commerce looks like in the US and what it’s lacking! 

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🛍️ For the Gen-Zs

Gen-Z is quickly becoming the most influential shopper in the US. This has also meant that e-commerce has been pushed towards a more social and community-oriented activity. 

• That’s $600B in spending power! 

Gen Zs also have different shopping needs. Studies show that while millennials focus more on convenience, brands need to focus a lot more on ‘product discovery’ to capture Gen Zs. 

Three critical stages that differentiate Gen Z shoppers? 

• Inspiration and product discovery
• Peer to peer
• Sharing products after purchase

This means that making shopping social has become a lot more critical than before for both brand and social or e-commerce platforms alike. 

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🇺🇲 Untapped opportunities 

Today, the social shopping experience in the US is still incomplete. 

We’ve got Chinese platforms like Temu entering the market to grab a piece of the pie, and we’ve also got incumbent social players like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, trying different strategies. 

Notably, the market is more fragmented than any. There’s a startup for almost every mini-functionality that is missing. An example is link-in-bio websites for creators to link additional products on links on their social media pages. 

While China might be our peak into the social-commerce future, it is more likely that new standalone platforms in the US take center stage, OR, older players finally crack the code. 

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