How to Connect Pinterest to Shopify

Transforming your window shoppers into paying customers hinges on meeting them where they are, and for e-commerce brands, that's often on Pinterest. Connecting your Shopify store directly to Pinterest is one of the most effective ways to turn inspiration into sales. This guide will walk you through setting up the official Pinterest app on Shopify, what that connection actually does for your store, and how to start leveraging it for growth.

Why Bother Connecting Pinterest to Shopify?

Before we get into the step-by-step, it’s helpful to understand what this integration makes possible. It’s not just about placing a link. A direct connection between Pinterest and Shopify streamlines your workflow and unlocks powerful commercial tools that can significantly impact your bottom line.

• Automated Product Catalogs: Instead of manually creating product pins one by one, the connection syncs your entire Shopify product catalog. This turns your products into shoppable "Product Pins" that always show the latest price, description, and stock information.
• Enhanced Product Discovery: Shoppable Pins appear in users’ home feeds, search results, and below related Pins, looking just like organic content but with purchasing a click away. This helps your products get discovered by people actively looking for items like yours.
• Detailed Conversion Tracking: The integration installs the Pinterest Tag on your site. This bit of code tracks how users who come from Pinterest behave on your Shopify store. You can see who adds items to their cart, who starts a checkout, and who completes a purchase, giving you clear insight into your ROI.
• Effective Retargeting Campaigns: That same Pinterest Tag lets you create powerful ad campaigns. You can retarget users who visited specific product pages or abandoned their carts, reminding them of what they liked and giving them a gentle nudge to complete the purchase.

Simply put, this integration transforms Pinterest from a traffic source into a fully-fledged sales channel for your brand.

The Step-by-Step Guide to Connecting Pinterest and Shopify

Shopify and Pinterest worked together to create an official app that makes this process incredibly easy. There’s no need to mess with code or complex settings. Here’s how to get it done.

1. Find and Install the Official Pinterest App

The first step is adding the free Pinterest app to your Shopify store. This app will serve as the bridge between your product inventory and your Pinterest business profile.

1. From your Shopify Admin dashboard, navigate to Apps in the left-hand sidebar.
2. Click the "App and sales channel settings" button, and then click on the "Shopify App Store" button in the top right corner.
3. In the search bar, type “Pinterest” and press Enter. The official app created by ‘Pinterest’ will be the top result. It's important to use this official app to take full advantage of all features.
4. Click on the app listing, then click the green "Add app" button.

2. Connect Your Accounts and Grant Permissions

After you add the app, Shopify will ask you to confirm that you want to install it. This is where you grant the necessary permissions for the app to access your product info and page details.

1. On the installation screen, review the permissions and click "Add sales channel" at the bottom right.
2. You'll then be redirected to a setup page within your Shopify admin. You’ll be prompted to "Connect to Pinterest." Click the big red button.
3. A pop-up window will appear, asking you to log into your Pinterest Business account. If you don't have a business account, you can create one during this step. A business account is required for these e-commerce features.
4. Once you're logged in, Pinterest will ask you to authorize the connection to the Shopify app. Click "Give access." This allows the app to update your product catalog, manage Pins, and access your profile information.

3. Finalize Your Settings and Claim Your Website

The final steps involve confirming your settings. The app does most of the heavy lifting for you automatically, such as placing the Pinterest Tag and claiming your website - a process that confirms you own your Shopify store’s domain.

1. Once authorized, you'll be brought back to Shopify. The app will automatically work to claim your website URL on Pinterest. This is a very important step - it adds your profile picture to any Pin saved from your site and gives you access to analytics for those Pins.
2. The app will also install the Pinterest Tag. You will be prompted to select a level for data sharing. Choosing "Maximum" offers the best ad targeting and conversion reporting capabilities, but you can choose based on your company's privacy policies.
3. Lastly, sync your products. The app should begin pulling your product catalog automatically. It may take up to 48 hours for your product catalog to be fully reviewed and approved by Pinterest. You’ll see a "Shop" tab appear on your Pinterest profile once it's complete.

And that’s it! Your Shopify store is now officially connected to Pinterest.

Your Store is Connected. Now What?

The technical work is done, but your Pinterest marketing journey is just beginning. Setting up the connection gives you the tools, but building a brand and driving sales requires a strategy.

Understand Your New Pin Types

With the integration complete, your products are now represented as Product Pins. These are different from regular Pins because they are enriched with metadata pulled directly from your Shopify store, including:

• Real-time pricing
• Stock availability
• Product title
• Product description

This information updates automatically. If you run a sale on Shopify, the price displayed on the Pin will change. If a product goes out of stock, the Pin will show that to users. This accuracy builds trust and prevents user frustration from clicking on a sold-out item.

Develop a Strong Visual Content Strategy

Pinterest is a visual discovery engine. Users are there to find ideas and inspiration, not hard sales pitches. Your success depends on the quality and appeal of your Pins.

• Use Lifestyle Imagery: Don't just post product-on-a-white-background images. Show your products in context. If you sell home decor, create Pins showing your items in a beautifully styled room. If you sell clothing, feature models wearing your apparel in real-life settings.
• Focus on Vertical Video: Video Pins, especially short-form content similar to Reels or TikToks, perform exceptionally well. Create aesthetic videos showing how to use a product, its benefits, or a behind-the-scenes look at how it’s made.
• Create Inspiring Boards: Don't just dump all your products onto one board. Create thematic boards that align with your customers' interests and search queries. For example, a furniture store might have boards like "Minimalist Living Room Ideas," "Cozy Bedroom Inspiration," or "Small Space Solutions," featuring relevant products on each.

Optimize Your Content for Search

Pinterest is less of a social network and more of a visual search engine. People actively use the search bar to find products and ideas. To get found, you need to use keywords.

• In Pin Descriptions: Write clear, descriptive captions that naturally include terms your target audience would search for. Think like your customer. What words would they use to find your product?
• In Board Titles and Descriptions: Your board titles should be clear and keyword-rich. A title like "Our Favorite Things" is cute but meaningless for search. "Handmade Ceramic Mugs & Pottery" is much better.
• In On-Pin Text Overlays: Add text directly onto your Pin creative. A bold headline like "5 Ways to Style a Throw Blanket" is eye-catching and gives Pinterest's visual recognition algorithm more context about what your Pin contains.

Final Thoughts

Connecting Pinterest to your Shopify store is a straightforward process thanks to the official app, and it fundamentally changes how you can use the platform for e-commerce. You can move beyond simply hoping for traffic and start building a reliable sales channel that's driven by your product catalog, powered by data, and perfectly aligned with how modern consumers discover and shop for products online.

Once everything is hooked up, the real task involves creating and managing a steady flow of visual content. At Postbase, we built our tool specifically for the visual-first world of platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok. Since our system was designed from the ground up to handle today’s content formats - especially short-form video and multimedia posts - it doesn't have the clunky, bolted-on feeling of older tools. Seeing your entire visual strategy in a single calendar makes planning content effortless, and our scheduling is rock-solid, so you can trust that your beautifully crafted Pins go live exactly when you want them to.