Pin it, buy it: Pinterest to add ‘buy button’ this year

Digital scrapbooking platform Pinterest is preparing to introduce a ‘buy button’.

Re/code reports Pinterest is laying the groundwork for an e-commerce service, with sources saying it could launch in between three and six months’ time. However, it’s likely that would just be on a trial basis.

A buy button would enable people to purchase items on Pinterest without leaving its website or app. Pinterest is following in the footsteps of Twitter, which began testing its own buy button last September. Twitter’s buy button enables users to buy merchandise directly from tweets.

Pinterest has 70 million monthly users who use its service to save and share images of things they like, anything from recipes, to furniture food and clothing. The service is currently valued at $US5 billion ($A6.46 billion) after raising more than $US750 million.

Sources told Re/code payment processing for Pinterest’s buy button will be handled by payment startup Stripe.