E-commerce potential of image sharing sites

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E-commerce on social media, where people share images collected by themselves, has suddenly become popular. Let's take a look at the relationship between e-commerce and three sites, including Pinterest, which has been in the spotlight due to Rakuten's investment, and Etsy, a marketplace for handmade products that is gaining popularity overseas.

Pinterest
Pinterest is a social networking site that allows users to categorize photos they find on the internet by theme and share them on their own boards. Users can also add descriptions and prices hong kong mobile database to item images, making it akin to a product catalog. Clicking on an image on Pinterest takes users to the poster's website, so users can be naturally drawn to the site by the tasteful images and products. Rakuten, Japan's largest commerce market, has set its sights on this business model involving e-commerce. In May 2012, Rakuten invested $100 million (8 billion yen at the time) in Pinterest. We can't wait to see the launch of a Japanese version of Pinterest that utilizes Rakuten's e-commerce know-how.



Etsy
Etsy was launched in 2005 as a marketplace where handmade products could be listed and sold. In 2012, Etsy had over 22 million users worldwide, and sales had grown to $900 million, a 70% increase from the previous year. As with Pinterest, products are introduced with impressive images, and many purchases are made when sellers empathize with the message. Etsy has a posting function for Pinterest, and many Etsy users have boards on Pinterest, which are used as a place to attract customers and for marketing. There is a lot of mutual flow of users, and a synergistic effect is being created between the two media. Many handmade product marketplaces have been launched in Japan using Etsy as a role model, but there have been no success stories yet.