Pinterest adds shopping with 'Buyable pins'

Pinterest on Tuesday said it is diving into e-commerce with 'pins' that let people buy items they like at the popular online bulletin-board.

"Pinterest is already designed to work like a catalogue, so we wanted to find a way to weave buyable pins into the pages people already know," co-founder and chief executive Ben Silbermann said during an event at the company's headquarters in San Francisco.

"Buyable pins are a simple and secure way to buy the products you love right from inside Pinterest," he said.

Pinterest buy buttons will debut on iPhones and iPads in the United States later this month, according to Silbermann.

There was no timeline given for when buy buttons might be available in Pinterest applications for Android powered devices or when it might go international.

"Believe me, we want to make sure that any pinner in the world can buy anything they want on Pinterest," head of core products Jack Chou told AFP.

"We wanted to start with a beautiful experience on iPhone and iPad; this is just a big first step."

Apple Pay or credit cards will be the options for paying at Pinterest, which built the service in a partnership with Shopify.

Pinterest announced in March that it had raised $367 million in new capital, pushing its valuation to $11 billion.

The new funds will help fuel global expansion plans for the fast-growing social network which calls itself a "visual bookmarking tool."

Pinterest has become one of the Internet's hottest new websites, particularly among women, by giving people virtual bulletin boards that they can decorate with pictures showcasing interests in anything from food to sports, to fashion or travel.

Pinterest sells advertising in the form of "promoted pins," but did not plan to charge fees to buyers or sellers using the coming buy buttons.

People interested in buying items they see posted at Pinterest are referred via links to outside websites.

Silbermann said the number of 'pins' at Pinterest has grown by 75 percent annually and now tops 50 billion.