Pinterest is gradually making its way towards becoming a central hub for product discovery with its recent acquisition of the AI-powered shopping platform THE YES. Since it operates on AI programming, THE YES learns user preferences to provide more personalized matches for each user, which, in some ways, beats out even the most fine-tuned algorithms.

Beating The No 

For additional context, THE YES was founded in 2018 and uses ‘quizzes’ and direct user inputs to refine its item listings based on your preferences. Part of the onboarding process involves a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response on various brands and product images. Responses help improve its automated matches as it makes use of advanced machine learning based on user activity.

As Pinterest explains:

“With hundreds of brand merchants on its platform, the team at THE YES has built an extensive fashion taxonomy that uses human expertise and machine learning to power a comprehensive algorithm in fashion. THE YES’s brand relationships and shopping expertise can potentially be applied to other categories on Pinterest such as home, beauty, and food.”

The deal will give Pinterest more tools that it can use to improve its search tools, as well as a direct connection with more brands to build out its platform listings, aligning well with its overarching platform goals. THE YES’ current CEO, Julie Bornstein, will be joining Pinterest as part of the acquisition, reporting directly to Pinterest Chief Ben Silberman to help the platform improve its shopping vision and strategy.

It’s an interesting move, which could have a big impact on Pinterest’s recommendation systems and spotlights, in more ways than one. It’ll be interesting to see how the platform looks to incorporate elements of THE YES into its product discovery process.

Pinterest saw a significant jump during the early stages of the pandemic, with lockdowns forcing more people to seek out alternative shopping experiences. However, since then, Pinterest’s active user count has been declining. At the same time, it has also been working on maximizing its revenue streams to also improve on its various other growth aspects.

The Wrap

On that note, improved product searches make for key elements. Pinterest’s systems at least continue to improve on this front, making it a valuable companion app for regular users. Acquisition of THE YES should help out massively in this respect. If Pinterest can boost its revenue per user stat, then that’ll go a long way towards addressing concerns regarding overall usage growth. The deal is expected to finalize before the month’s end.

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Sources 

https://bit.ly/3tdZIKv