Pinterest Shopping Ads: Catalog Setup for Ecommerce

Pinterest Shopping ads transform your product catalog into shoppable content that reaches users actively seeking purchase inspiration. Unlike search-based shopping where users know what they want, Pinterest Shopping captures demand at the discovery stage—when users browse "living room decor ideas" or "summer outfit inspiration" and are open to product suggestions. For ecommerce brands, this represents a unique opportunity to influence purchase decisions before competitors even enter the conversation.

This guide covers everything you need to launch and optimize Pinterest Shopping campaigns. From initial catalog setup through advanced optimization strategies, you'll learn how to leverage Pinterest's visual discovery engine to drive meaningful ecommerce revenue.

Understanding Pinterest Shopping Ads

Pinterest Shopping ads automatically create shoppable Pins from your product catalog, displaying them across the platform wherever users seek inspiration. These ads include real-time pricing, availability status, and product details—making the path from discovery to purchase seamless.

How Pinterest Shopping works

The Pinterest Shopping ecosystem connects several components:

1. Product Catalog: Your data feed containing product information
2. Product Pins: Automatically generated Pins from catalog data
3. Shopping Campaigns: Paid promotion of Product Pins
4. Shop Tab: Dedicated shopping destination on Pinterest
5. Visual Search: Users finding products through image recognition

Once your catalog is connected, Pinterest creates Product Pins for each item. These Pins display across Pinterest surfaces—search results, home feed, related Pins, and the Shop tab—both organically and through paid promotion.

Pinterest Shopping surfaces

Why Pinterest Shopping works for ecommerce

Pinterest's unique user behavior creates ideal conditions for ecommerce:

• 97% of searches are unbranded—users seek ideas, not specific products
• Shopping mindset—users come to Pinterest planning purchases
• Extended consideration—users save products and return to buy
• Visual discovery—products found through imagery, not just keywords
• Lower competition—fewer advertisers than Meta or Google Shopping

Setting Up Your Pinterest Product Catalog

Your product catalog is the foundation of Pinterest Shopping. This data feed tells Pinterest everything about your products—what you sell, how much it costs, what it looks like, and where to buy it.

Catalog requirements

Before creating a catalog, ensure you meet Pinterest's requirements:

• Claimed and verified website
• Pinterest business account
• Pinterest Tag installed (for conversion tracking)
• Products that comply with Pinterest advertising policies
• Product data in supported format (CSV, TSV, XML, or Google Sheets)

Required product feed fields

Recommended optional fields

Creating your product feed

Most ecommerce platforms offer Pinterest integrations that automatically generate and sync product feeds:

• Shopify: Pinterest app in Shopify App Store (automatic sync)
• WooCommerce: Pinterest for WooCommerce plugin
• BigCommerce: Native Pinterest integration
• Magento: Pinterest extension or feed management tool
• Custom platforms: Generate feed manually or use feed tools

For manual feed creation, export product data to CSV format with required columns. Use feed management tools like DataFeedWatch, Feedonomics, or GoDataFeed to optimize and automate feed updates if you sell across multiple channels.

Connecting your catalog to Pinterest

1. Go to Ads Manager > Catalogs
2. Click "Create catalog"
3. Choose data source: file upload, URL, or platform integration
4. For URL: Enter feed URL and set refresh schedule (daily recommended)
5. For integration: Connect your ecommerce platform
6. Map feed fields to Pinterest requirements
7. Submit for processing (24-48 hours initially)

Optimizing Your Product Feed for Pinterest

Feed quality directly impacts Shopping performance. Optimized product data improves visibility in search, increases click-through rates, and drives higher conversion rates.

Title optimization

Product titles should be descriptive and keyword-rich while remaining natural:

• Include product type, brand, key attributes (color, material, style)
• Front-load important keywords—first 50 characters matter most
• Match terms users actually search on Pinterest
• Avoid keyword stuffing that makes titles unreadable
• Keep under 150 characters (longer titles get truncated)

Example optimization:

• Before: "Chair Model A-1234"
• After: "Modern Velvet Accent Chair - Navy Blue Mid-Century Living Room Furniture"

Image optimization

Pinterest is a visual platform—image quality significantly impacts performance:

• Use lifestyle images: Show products in context, not on white backgrounds
• Vertical format preferred: 2:3 ratio (1000x1500px) performs best
• High resolution: Minimum 600x900px, larger recommended
• Multiple images: Include additional_image_link for variety
• Consistent styling: Maintain brand aesthetic across catalog

Products with lifestyle imagery showing real-world use consistently outperform isolated product shots. A sofa shown in a styled living room generates higher engagement than the same sofa on a plain background.

Description optimization

Descriptions support both user understanding and Pinterest's algorithm:

• Include relevant keywords naturally within descriptions
• Focus on benefits and use cases, not just features
• Address common questions users might have
• Use complete sentences rather than bullet points
• Keep most important information in first 200 characters

Category and attribute accuracy

Proper categorization improves targeting and discoverability:

• Use Google Product Category taxonomy for standardized classification
• Be as specific as possible in category selection
• Include all relevant attributes (color, size, material, gender)
• Update availability status promptly when stock changes
• Set accurate shipping information if available

Pinterest Shopping Campaign Types

Pinterest offers several ways to promote products from your catalog, each suited to different objectives and funnel stages.

Catalog Sales campaigns

The primary Shopping campaign type, Catalog Sales optimizes for purchases using your product catalog. Pinterest's algorithm identifies users most likely to buy and shows them relevant products from your feed.

When to use: Direct response campaigns focused on ROAS

Best practices:

• Ensure Pinterest Tag tracks purchases with value
• Need 25+ weekly conversions per ad group for optimization
• Start with all products, then segment based on performance
• Use product groups to organize by category, price, or margin

Retargeting Shopping campaigns

Target users who've already interacted with your products or website:

• Product viewers: Users who viewed specific products
• Cart abandoners: Users who added to cart but didn't purchase
• Past purchasers: Cross-sell or upsell to existing customers
• Website visitors: General site visitors from non-product pages

Retargeting typically delivers highest ROAS, as these users have already shown purchase intent. Create separate campaigns for each audience segment to tailor messaging and bids.

Collections campaigns

Collections ads feature a hero lifestyle image with 3+ product Pins below. When users tap the ad, they see an immersive full-screen experience with shoppable products.

When to use: Brand storytelling with shoppable products

Best practices:

• Hero image should be aspirational lifestyle content
• Feature complementary products that work together
• Include 4-24 products per Collection
• Align products with hero image context

Campaign structure recommendations

Setting Up Shopping Campaigns

Follow this process to create effective Shopping campaigns in Pinterest Ads Manager.

Step 1: Create campaign

1. Go to Ads Manager > Create Campaign
2. Select "Catalog sales" objective
3. Choose your product catalog as the data source
4. Name campaign (include "Shopping" and targeting type)
5. Set campaign budget (daily or lifetime)

Step 2: Configure product groups

Product groups determine which catalog products are included in each ad group:

1. Create ad group within campaign
2. Select product group: All products or filtered selection
3. Filter by: product type, brand, category, custom labels, price
4. Review estimated product count

Start broad, then create segmented campaigns for top performers or strategic categories.

Step 3: Set targeting

For prospecting campaigns:

• Use interests aligned with your product categories
• Add keyword targeting for high-intent searches
• Layer demographics appropriate to your audience
• Consider actalike audiences based on purchasers

For retargeting campaigns:

• Select website visitor audiences (cart, product view, etc.)
• Exclude recent purchasers (unless cross-selling)
• Set appropriate lookback windows (7-30 days typically)

Step 4: Set bidding and budget

• Bidding: Start with automatic bidding, test custom bids once you have data
• Budget: $20-50/day minimum per ad group for learning
• Schedule: Run continuously or set specific date ranges

Step 5: Launch and monitor

1. Review all settings
2. Submit campaign for review
3. Monitor product-level performance after 7-14 days
4. Optimize based on product group and creative performance

Shopping Ad Optimization Strategies

Ongoing optimization improves Shopping campaign performance over time. Focus on these key areas:

Product-level optimization

• Identify top-performing products by ROAS and create dedicated ad groups
• Pause or exclude underperforming products dragging down results
• Increase bids on high-converting products to capture more volume
• Improve feed data for mid-performers (better images, titles)
• Remove out-of-stock items or use availability filtering

Audience optimization

• Build actalike audiences from purchasers (1%, 5%, 10% sizes)
• Test interest combinations based on purchaser overlap
• Expand retargeting windows if performance holds
• Layer customer list exclusions to focus on acquisition
• Test demographic filters based on customer data

Bid optimization

• After 2+ weeks of data, test custom bids against automatic
• Increase bids on high-ROAS product groups
• Decrease bids (or pause) on low-ROAS segments
• Consider time-of-day bid adjustments if patterns emerge
• Adjust bids seasonally based on demand fluctuations

Feed optimization

• Update product images with better lifestyle photography
• Refine titles based on Pinterest search trends
• Add custom labels for campaign segmentation
• Ensure prices and availability sync frequently
• Add sale_price when running promotions

Measuring Shopping Campaign Performance

Track these key metrics to evaluate and optimize Pinterest Shopping campaigns:

Primary Shopping metrics

Attribution considerations

Pinterest users often save products and purchase later. Configure attribution appropriately:

• Click attribution: 30 or 60 days (30 days standard)
• View attribution: 1, 7, or 30 days (7-30 days recommended)
• Engagement attribution: Includes saves and closeups

Compare Pinterest-reported conversions with your analytics platform (GA4, Shopify Analytics) to understand attribution differences. Pinterest's longer attribution windows often capture conversions that last-click models miss.

Product-level reporting

Analyze performance at the product level to identify opportunities:

• Export product-level data from Catalogs tab
• Calculate ROAS by product or category
• Identify high-impression but low-conversion products (feed optimization needed)
• Find high-conversion products for bid increases
• Track top products by saves for organic visibility

Common Pinterest Shopping Challenges

Address these common issues that impact Shopping campaign performance:

Feed errors and disapprovals

• Missing required fields: Ensure all required fields are populated
• Image issues: Check image URLs work and meet size requirements
• Policy violations: Review prohibited products list
• Price mismatches: Ensure feed price matches landing page
• Availability mismatches: Sync frequency may need increase

Low impression volume

• Expand targeting—audience may be too narrow
• Increase bids—may be losing auctions
• Improve feed quality—better data improves discoverability
• Check product group filters—may be excluding too many products
• Review category relevance—products may not match user searches

Low conversion rates

• Audit landing pages—ensure smooth mobile experience
• Check price competitiveness—users comparison shop
• Review targeting—traffic quality may not match product
• Improve product images—set appropriate expectations
• Verify tracking—Pinterest Tag may not be firing correctly

Advanced Shopping Strategies

Once basic campaigns are performing, implement these advanced strategies:

Dynamic retargeting

Show users the specific products they viewed or added to cart:

• Create website visitor audiences by product page visits
• Set up dynamic retargeting to show previously viewed items
• Layer urgency messaging for cart abandoners
• Test cross-sell campaigns showing related products

Seasonal campaign planning

Pinterest users plan ahead—align campaigns with planning cycles:

• Launch holiday campaigns 45-60 days before events
• Seasonal trends peak before actual seasons (spring decor in February)
• Increase budgets during peak planning periods
• Create seasonal Collections with themed lifestyle images

Cross-platform strategy

Integrate Pinterest Shopping with broader ecommerce advertising:

• Compare Pinterest vs Google Shopping performance by product
• Test products that perform well on Pinterest on Meta catalog ads
• Use Pinterest for discovery, search for capture
• Maintain consistent pricing and availability across platforms

Pinterest Shopping offers ecommerce brands access to users in discovery mode—actively seeking inspiration and open to new products. By optimizing your product feed, structuring campaigns effectively, and continuously improving based on performance data, you can turn Pinterest's visual discovery engine into a profitable sales channel that complements your broader advertising mix.

Ready to optimize your Pinterest Shopping performance? Benly helps you analyze competitor Shopping strategies, identify trending products in your category, and discover creative approaches driving results for similar brands. Stop guessing what products and imagery resonate—build your Shopping campaigns on competitive intelligence.