As if you need to be reminded, Pinterest is not a social network. It will be interesting to see where this trend will continue as that was the statement from Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann in 2016, when at that time, the company slowly released more and more features in order to push more to its mission to turn it into a product discovery and e-commerce engine. In addition, that shift has helped differentiate the social site even from its very own Facebook but better fit for the app into this growing sea of applications.

It just is another week where Pinterest makes official some more tools of that end, along with the clearest mission statement type there is:

"When you see something on Pinterest you'd like to own you should be able to buy it, or something just like it that matches your unique style. That's our vision for shopping with Pinterest."

Along with all of this, Pinterest unveils three new updates toward a shopping experience on platform:.

The first is an update to its Product Pins, replacing Buyable Pins across the board.
As Pinterest itself explains:

"Today we're making hundreds of millions of Pins shoppable with up-to-date pricing and stock information, with links that go directly to the checkout page on the retailer's site where you can buy in a few clicks. Look for the new shopping tag icon, and you know it's in stock."

This new version will be more dynamic, including up-to-date stock information and pricing, so it will be easier for Pinterest users to get the right information to help in their shopping journey.

Using Product Pins is free of charge; retailers will then be able to turn the new feature for their products through adding the markup tags in the product pages of their site, or sharing the product feed with Pinterest.

In addition, Pinterest is incorporating a new section for shopping recommendations to appear under Style and Home Pins for users to shop similar items across the brands.
You can shop more in-stock products featuring the same original Pin in the new shopping recommendations section - clicking to shop more in the section will take you to a shopping feed full of similar styles, all in stock."

The 'in stock' is the critical addition here, as Pinterest looks to keep the live connectivity with the retailer databases to enable the shopper to get the products displayed, at the prices listed.

And lastly, a shopping shortcut is being added to Pinterest. And with that shortcut, users are now able to shop directly from the feed.
"Just hold down on any Home or Style Pin and click the shopping tag to immediately dive into a shopping feed with in-stock and related products for that Pin, from a variety of brands."

The shopping feed shortcut will start rolling out on iOS this week in the U.S. Android coming soon.
The enhanced connection between Pinterest and the provider databases will be able to improve the Pin shopping experience with better transparency into who has it and what the correct price really is, saving unnecessary click-throughs to sites that no longer have the item in stock or have changed since Pinning.

And the real-time data linkage is already proving beneficial - according to Pinterest:

"In the past quarter since we started testing these shopping features, clicks on products to retail sites have increased by 40%."

With the holiday season fast approaching, this new update could prove key in helping Pinterest maximize its potential, providing its 250 million active users with the information they need to get optimal utility out of the app.