E-commerce

E-commerce. business. technology. society. KENNETH C. LAUDON AND CAROL G. TRAVER

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video case chapter 7 Social, Mobile, and Local Marketing

case 7.2 Pinterest Users Engage with Sephora

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fwhB6Kkjtg

summary Sephora is active on all of the major social media platforms, but Pinterest offers the highest level of user engagement with potential customers. L: 14:06

case Pinterest is a rapidly growing social network that allows users to “pin” pictures to their own online board, creating a kind of highly interactive and social online magazine or scrapbook. There are a variety of categories of boards, including gifts, animals, art, cars, and food. As one of the fastest growing sites in the history of the Web, Pinterest has quickly caught the eye of marketers in industries that lend themselves to pictorial representation of their products. In 2012, the site had 10,000 users, and now has well over 70 million users in 2015.

Currently, 80% of Pinterest users are women, making it an excellent marketing platform for women’s fashion and beauty retailers. One of the foremost among these retailers is Sephora, a beauty retailer with over 300 stores in North America and operations in 27 different countries around the world. Founded in Paris in 1970, Sephora is a highly regarded global brand with a healthy social media presence on many platforms, including Facebook and Twitter as well as Pinterest. Sephora’s social media objectives are different on different platforms, and the company values each one. But Sephora is devoting more attention than ever to its Pinterest presence because of the heightened engagement of users on the Pinterest platform.

Pinterest users are specifically interested in pinning items that interest them and which they might want to buy, whether they’re ready to purchase immediately or sometime in the future.

watch the video at

case 7.2 Pinterest Users engage with sePhora 2

For this reason, Sephora has seen a much greater engagement level from its fan base on Pinterest than on any other platform. Sephora’s Pinterest page consists of a variety of boards, many of which display different products in Sephora’s catalog, categorized by type. Boards include Makeup of the Day, Today’s Obsession, Lips, Eyes, Trending Now, Skincare IQ, Beauty How-tos, and a host of others. Not every board displays beauty products and fashion trends – there are also lists for Quotes, Recipes, and Gifts for Him.

The interactivity of the Pinterest platform is a two-way relationship for Sephora and its customers. Individual Pinterest users can pin favorite products from Sephora’s page, and Sephora can also pin photos of users trying out its products. For example, the Makeup of the Day board consists of user-submitted photos showcasing different Sephora makeup products, submitted at Sephora.com’s message board. The company actively engages with users, encouraging them to try out different products and looks, and keeping track of which items in its catalog are more frequently repinned. Sephora is also on the lookout for ‘trendsetters’ – people whose Pinterest activity most influences other Sephora fans.

Although Sephora’s Facebook audience is many times larger than its Pinterest audience (currently 15 million versus around 400,000 on Pinterest), the company reports that, at the time of the video, each Pinterest follower has fifteen times the sales impact of one Facebook follower. For Sephora, the engagement level of the Pinterest platform and the emphasis on reaching highly interested potential customers is paying off.

1. What were some of the trends noted in the video that initially tipped Sephora off to the potential of Pinterest?

2. How did Sephora integrate Pinterest into its e-commerce presence?

3. What aspect of Pinterest does Bridget Dolan, VP of Interactive Media at Sephora, note that she finds the most fascinating?

4. What are some of the keys to launching a successful Pinterest marketing campaign?

5. Why is Pinterest an ideal marketing platform for a company like Sephora?

6. What are some other examples of industries well suited to Pinterest marketing campaigns?

copyright © 2016 Kenneth c. Laudon and carol guercio traver.

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video case questions