Pinterest Shopping Catalog Setup Guide for Small Online Stores
Everything a small store needs to get products onto Pinterest: account setup, feed requirements and tips for discovery.
Pinterest is a search and discovery engine for ideas โ home decor, recipes, fashion, gifts, weddings. People arrive planning to buy something eventually, which makes it a natural home for product listings. A Pinterest catalog turns your product feed into shoppable Product Pins that can appear in search, in related Pins and in shopping surfaces.
What you need before you start
- A Pinterest business account (free; you can convert a personal account).
- A claimed website. Pinterest verifies that you own the domain where your products are sold.
- A product feed hosted at a stable URL.
- A store that meets Pinterest's merchant guidelines โ clear contact information, shipping and returns policies, and products that are allowed on the platform.
Feed requirements
Pinterest accepts CSV, TSV and XML feeds. The core fields are familiar if you have used Google or Meta:
id,title,descriptionlink(product page) andimage_linkpricewith currencyavailability
Recommended fields such as google_product_category, product_type, brand, sale_price and additional_image_link help Pinterest categorise and display products well.
Setting up the catalog
- In your business account, open Catalogs and create a data source.
- Enter your feed URL, choose the format, currency and country.
- Submit for ingestion. Pinterest reviews your site against its merchant guidelines; this can take a few days.
- Once processed, check the ingestion report for errors and warnings.
- Create product groups (for example by category or price range) to organise products and use them in shopping ads.
Helping product Pins get discovered
- Use vertical, high-quality images. Pinterest is a visual feed; lifestyle images often outperform plain cut-outs. A 2:3 ratio displays well.
- Write descriptive titles. Include what the product is and its key attribute: "Handwoven Jute Table Runner โ Natural, 180 cm".
- Use natural keywords in descriptions, the words people type into Pinterest search.
- Keep prices and stock accurate; Pinterest updates from your feed regularly.
- Pin organically too. Save products to well-named boards so they appear in more contexts.
Measuring results
Pinterest Analytics shows impressions, saves, outbound clicks and, with the Pinterest tag installed on your site, add-to-carts and checkouts from Pins. Saves are an important early signal: people often save a product weeks before buying. Look for product groups with many impressions but few clicks โ their images or titles usually need work โ and for products that get saved a lot, which are good candidates for promotion.
Create your feed
If your platform does not provide a Pinterest feed, the free Pinterest product feed generator crawls your store and outputs XML, CSV or TSV. Our step-by-step guide on generating a Pinterest product feed from your website covers it. Check product titles with the product title optimizer before publishing.
Related guides
More free tools: browse all our free ecommerce tools, no sign-up needed.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pinterest shopping available in my country?
Catalog and shopping features vary by market. Check Pinterest's business help pages for your country.
Why was my catalog not approved?
Common reasons are an unclaimed website, missing policies or contact details, or products that do not meet merchant guidelines.
Can I use my Google Merchant Center feed?
Often yes, since the attributes are similar. Make sure the format and fields meet Pinterest's specification.
Do Product Pins cost money?
No. Organic Product Pins are free. Shopping ads are optional and paid.