• In total, 160,958 links to content on ASOS.com had been pinned by users at the time of the study (w/e 22 November 2013).
  • ASOS has 48,000 Pinterest followers. This is over five times greater than the next nearest retailer, Next, which has just over 9,000 followers.
  • ASOS most successful item on Pinterest, a ‘road trip fashion’ look, was pinned 51,588 times.

Here’s how the rest of the UK retailers faired in terms of average pins-per-week.

In brackets I’ve also noted how many followers each brand has on Pinterest

  1. ASOS – 1,728 (48,043)
  2. Amazon.co.uk – 1,233 (81)
  3. John Lewis – 791 (3,937)
  4. New Look – 602 (5,447)
  5. Next – 525 (6,406)
  6. Debenhams – 333 (2,632)
  7. Marks and Spencer – 267 (8,909)
  8. Argos – 256 (1,628)
  9. Tesco – 206 (2,187)
  10. B&Q – 4 (2,233)

Amazon.co.uk only has 81 followers on Pinterest, and yet is at number two. This is the current state of Amazon.co.uk’s Pinterest page.

That’s quite a sad state of affairs, and has looked the same since David Moth reviewed it in July 2012. There’s absolutely zero interest from the company in curating its own boards, instead Amazon is happy for its followers to do its marketing for it.

It’s a true example of complacency, and is proof that even if you’re a massive company, you’ll probably get a few stragglers on social channels without doing any work at all. It’s certainly not the way to create brand loyalty and increase positivity from your consumers.

So what is ASOS doing so well on Pinterest that other retailers aren’t? (Or in Amazon.co.uk’s case, not doing at all.) 

Back in July 2012, ASOS had 35 boards and 7,735 followers. Here’s how the ASOS Pinterest page looks now.

The current figure of 49,458 followers, up from nearly 8,000 in 18 months is an impressive increase. 

Although ASOS has cut down on the number of boards it maintains, each one is meticulously curated, the majority having over 20 pins and some managing between 100 – 400.

ASOS has also made a point of adding its own brand name to each board, to help drive search traffic to the page.

The social aspect of Pinterest is greatly understood here. ASOS regularly pins and repins images from other sites and blogs, showing a desire to provide a deeper consumer experience by going beyond self-publicising. 

Brands that repin third-party content attract more followers than those who simply link back to their own e-commerce sites, ASOS understands this, but always manages to keep a keen eye on relevancy to the brand and the customer.

ASOS’s Christmas themed board exemplifies its attitude towards Pinterest.

It’s a mixture of its own products, products from other retailer that the curator seemingly wants for Christmas, images from Christmas movies, festive photography and a few amusing graphic based images.

Basically it’s relevant, immersive, entertaining and thoroughly repinnable.

For more insight, read our Pinterest for small business guide and take a look at five more brands that are nailing Pinterest.