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Can Pinterest drive your online sales?

Pinterest is still the world’s fourth largest driver of web traffic, standing above Yahoo, Bing and even Twitter. But how often do those visits mean sales? The jury is still out on that question, but eCommerce company Shopify says that Pinterest users are 10% more likely to make a purchase.

On the other hand, Zappos discovered that Pinterest users spent less than visitors coming from Facebook or Twitter, even though they shared more from the site.

Just in time for the year’s biggest buying season, Pinterest has launched ‘secret boards’ as new method for people to privately pin holiday gift ideas. Right now users are limited to just three private boards at the moment.

Will this holiday season push Pinterest to the forefront of eCommerce?

Instagram introduces user profiles on the web

Instagram has introduced web profiles for users. This is one of the first moves away from a mobile only platform. Similar to the Facebook profile design it uses a timeline-esque cover photo and small square profile image. While it makes sense for Instagram to visual cues from its parent company,  does it makes sense to launch a web platform? Will anyone bother to visit brands’ pages on the web?

FedEx launches ‘Ship to Friends’ app on Facebook

With the launch of facebook gifts and the holidays right around the corner. FedEx has created a Facebook app that allows users to create address labels for parcels based on their friends’ profiles, and it notifies friends when they’re about to receive a package.

While this service isn’t much different than what FedEx’s website already offers, - placing it in FB is sure to get even more users this holiday season.