Pinterest ramps up shopping efforts — and adds some cool new tools

Pinterest is making it easier for consumers to shop and buy on its site.



The company, which claims 100 million monthly users, on Tuesday unveiled a collection of new tools, called “Shopping with Pinterest,” that includes visual search technology that lets people search for similar items shown featured in a pin (post).



“We’re also rolling out a new way to search within a Pin to find products,” explained product manager Tim Weingarten in a blog on the Pinterest site. “Just tap the visual search icon at the top of any pin and explore the dots to see similar pins.”



The most talked-about feature of the updates is camera search technology whereby users, using their smartphones, take a photo of a product in the real world that captures their interest and then search for related or similar products in pins on Pinterest.



Pinterest is also expanding its “Buy” button on pins, called Buyable Pins, which could previously be accessed only on its mobile apps, to the Web.



The company is also adding a shopping bag that allows its users to save multiple items to a cart that can be accessed on its mobile apps and website. Users will only have to enter their check out information once.



“The next time you shop, you’ll be just two taps away from placing your order, Weingarten wrote.



Pinterest says it has partnered with 20,000 merchants — big and small — to bring over 10 million unique products to its site.



The company plans to roll out most of the new updates in the coming weeks.