Pinterest Copycats – Where’s it Headed?

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The Pinterest-ization of the Internet is changing how we research and buy stuff. What we see is what we like, and we’re quick to share among our friends and networks. And sometimes, maybe, we even buy the stuff ourselves.

pinterest copycats

That’s the angle viewed in the GigaOm article on new social commerce startups â€‹like new shopping startup Wanelo and cool stuff discovery network The Fancy. These Pinterest copycat startups are obtaining funding at a quickening pace. As Web behavior continues to evolve and Pinterest imitators continue to spring up, it’s clear that tastes and patterns are changing in the way we search and buy things over the Web.

Industry Spread

You might have noticed the visual Pinterest concept spread to not only retail, but many other businesses as well. From pages for manufacturers to digital marketing agencies, companies everywhere are learning to pin images to Pinterest and share them with customers, clients and potential partners.

Using the Pinterest method can help marketers boost their brand awareness on the Web. It also clearly makes a line to users of the products and services to see what make the company or product tick. Check how the iAcquire Pinterest page offers up pins of interest to marketers, employees, and potential partners.

Shopping Online

Retailing, e-commerce and people shopping for bargains has been part of our routine for over a decade. And shoppers are still looking for bargains, sales and discounts, 70 percent of us according to a Forrester Research report from early 2013, writes Internet Retailer. More than half (57 percent) of these same online shoppers also take into account your retail brand’s reputation as well before pulling out their credit cards.

And that’s adding up to big dollars being spent on goods online. In 2012, we spent about $230 billion on online commerce, according to Forrester, with an expected increase in 2013 online spending to about $262 billion. That’s a rise of about 13 percent.

Social + Commerce = Gold

More recently, start-ups are combining this e-commerce element with social sharing and Pinterest-like visuals. The Fancy, for instance has attracted investor funding of about $53 million by combining a Pinterest-type layout with a giant catalog of objects and an e-commerce model that combines and rewards diligent Web users seeking to discover and find new items to buy.

Pinterest continues to be the enviable model for entrepreneurs seeking to make it big in Internet business plays. Mashable points out other companies in industries trying out Pinterest alternatives and why it’s so alluring to visitors to these sites. And with the expected funding and growth given to recent start-ups, who can blame them for trying? As the Web gets more visual, so too will we start to look for items not by search and text, but by eyes and images.


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