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American social-bookmarking site Pinterest is quickly growing in popularity among young women in the US and Australia. Retailers may look to Pinterest to boost online sales
Social media is growing in importance for retailers around the world as they look for new ways to attract customers at a time when traditional bricks-and-mortar stores are reporting declining sales and struggling to boost profit margins.
But in addition to having a Facebook or Twitter account, it seems that a number of brands are looking to specialised sites to increase the amount of organic traffic that flows to their own websites.
With this in mind, it may not come as a surprise to learn that many retailers are starting to take notice of relatively new social bookmarking sites in order to generate sales.
And while getting online may not be the first thing on the minds of professionals working in the fashion business, it is becoming increasingly important to make sure that your brand has an effective internet marketing campaign in place.
Pinterest may be in its infancy but the social network is proving popular amongst women users in the US, Canada and Australia.
Described by its founders as a place where people can connect with others via an interest in things as diverse as architecture, weddings and events, as well as a number of sections dedicated to things women love – fashion, beauty and travel.
The online pinboard and social book-marking site has witnessed phenomenal growth since it was founded in March 2010, with reports from Mashable (January 30) showing that in the three months leading up to Christmas last year the site is reported to have grown fourfold in size and in December it attracted more than 7 million unique visitors.
In addition to giving real people a platform to make their voice heard, it seems that these sites are also attracting the attention of retailers.
And while it may have only been established a little under two years ago, in March 2010, it is now one of the most popular web addresses online in countries like the US, Canada and Australia.
In Australia, when the average number of daily visits and page views are taken into account Pinterest is the 59th most popular online site – a figure that jumps to 24 in the US – and roughly 58 per cent of traffic on the site comes from young women, according to Experian Hitwise.
A recent study by Shareaholic found that the site drives more referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined – making it the top traffic driver for retail.