Pinterest partners with Walmart for shoppable recipe pilot

The news: Pinterest is piloting a new shoppable recipe format with Walmart’s help.

• Select recipes now feature a “Shop Ingredients” button that lets users add ingredients directly to their Walmart carts.
• Shoppers can swap ingredients, see real-time pricing, and choose their preferred store for pickup or delivery.

The strategy: The pilot fits squarely with Pinterest’s broader goal to make every pin on its platform shoppable, a strategy designed to fully monetize its influence over product discovery and shopping trends.

• Recipes and meal-planning are among the highest-intent use cases on Pinterest’s platform, per the company.
• The ability to close the loop between inspiration and purchase could make Pinterest more attractive to CPG advertisers, which in turn may help lift sluggish growth in US average revenues per user (ARPU).

For Walmart, the partnership is in keeping with its strategy of establishing a presence on as many shopping channels as possible, be it social commerce or ChatGPT.

The caveat: While shoppable content is a priority for Pinterest, companies are—for now—unconvinced of its performance.

• Just 24% of US business owners consider shoppable pins a major driver of engagement, compared with 61% for standard image pins and 37% for idea pins, according to an Adobe survey.
• As a result, companies are less focused on driving sales through Pinterest and more interested in using the platform to build traffic and brand awareness.

Our take: Pinterest’s partnership with Walmart could be a catalyst to nudge brands—and other retailers—toward embracing the platform’s shoppable capabilities. Pinterest’s role as Gen Z’s go-to search platform, coupled with its insights into shopping intent, make it a valuable partner for brands looking to shorten the path to purchase.