Power of the Pin
Landis Griffin
If you thought Pinterest was just for crafters and moms, then think again. Pinterest has become the new way for companies to grow their business at no additional cost. For the Habitat ReStore, Pinterest has almost doubled our sales in the last couple of months! Pinterest has also broadened the customer base for the Restore. The ReStore has always been thought of as just a “home improvement” type of store. Most of the customers who shopped the store only came in because they needed to fix something in their home, now almost half of their customers are crafters looking for their next project. All of this was done by the power of the pin. With Pinterest, the ReStore has been able to show their existing customers that fantastic items can be made from overlooked, unwanted things and at the same time, expand the customer base. Now the ReStore has become known as a crafters paradise!
I’m sure by now you are asking the question, how has all of this been accomplished? Every bit of this has been done by simply finding items in the store and showing all of our fans on Facebook and the shoppers in the store how they can make any item into something new. The Restore can show you how to turn a cardboard barrel into a laundry basket, a pallet into a shelf or even old tires can be turned into a flower bed. The Habitat ReStore has even branched out to teaching classes on some of these great ideas. So take a look at those items you just can’t seem to sell and see what Pinterest can turn them into.
Boost Sales By Inspiring New Uses for Old Things
Here’s a few examples of how we were able to use some inspiring ideas on Pinterest to find customers for some hard-to-sell items.
Pallets
To the untrained eye, pallets do not capture much attention. Their worn, weathered appearance makes them unsuitable for a typical home improvement project. After Pinterest, we have been amazed at how many different ways people are transforming pallets into works of art for their homes. Here’s a few of our favorite examples:
Industrial Cardboard Bins
We often receive donations from our local industries. Fortunately, through Pinterest we’ve found ways to turn these industrial donations into desirable items. Our customers have turned these industrial cardboard bins into laundry baskets, toy baskets, and other personalized storage containers. These bins sell fast now.
Cabinet Doors
Cabinet doors are one of our most popular items. Crafters have started painting scenes and sayings on them to create one-of-kind artwork for their walls. One of our favorite cabinet projects though was done by our customer Kathy Pitts Ray Evans. With new paint and hardware, these drab cabinet doors she purchased from the ReStore were transformed into a beautiful accent for her bathroom window.
Old TVs:
Old TVs are everywhere and, of course, no one wants an old TV when you get a new one so inexpensively. Now thanks to Pinterest, our old TVs are getting a new life. Here’s one of our favorite TV set transformations:
Incorporating Pinterest into the Store
We were so inspired by the overwhelming response we had received from local crafters that we turned our Pinterest ideas into a Pinterest class. This allowed us to host a low-cost fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity, while still promoting what we had to offer at the ReStore. The response was so great for our November 2012 class that we added an additional class time.
Pinterest has also helped us connect more with our customers. They enjoy sharing with us the before and after pictures of their projects and many of them have lent items to us to display in the ReStore. For our grand opening in our new location, we had several customers donate items for us to raffle off, including the wonderful homemade table below.
Landis Griffin is the Resource Development Director with Habitat For Humanity of Morgan County’s ReStore View the ReStore site at www.morganhabitat.org/restore/.