Pinterest is rolling out new e-commerce features that enable users to shop for items they find on the platform by linking directly to retailers’ websites.

A blog posted to the company’s website this week announced that hundreds of millions of ‘pins’ would be enabled with shoppable links, along with live pricing and stock information synced from retailers’ websites.

The shoppable product pins appear on the search, home feed and related pins sections.

New features on the photo-based app include a ‘Shop the Look’ feature, which serves links for individual items featured in a single photo and sends the customer directly to product pages for the items they click on.

Pinterest has also introduced a Lens camera enabling shoppers to take a photo of a desired item in the real world and search for it on the platform.

The company says it has seen a 40 per cent increase in sales since it first started testing the new features in the last quarter.

The upgrade is the latest step in the transformation of Pinterest and its social media rivals into the next generation of ecommerce platforms as they look to encourage their younger users to buy products by linking directly from the app.

A recent survey from Salmon earlier this year found that 29 per cent of Millennials in the UK and US use social media sites such as Instagram and Snapchat to actively purchase products.

Instagram introduced a shopping feature on its Explore page last month and was reportedly trialling shopping features ahead of a roll out of a standalone shopping-specific app. Meanwhile Snapchat rolled out shoppable adverts and a visual search tool synced with Amazon’s marketplace in its app last month.

Pinterest’s app upgrade also features a new shopping recommendations section with personalised suggestions of similar items and brands that the customer may want to browse.

This feature is currently only available in the US, but is expected to roll out globally in the coming months.

The post read: “Today we’re making hundreds of millions of Pins shoppable with up-to-date pricing and stock information, with links that go directly to the checkout page on the retailer’s site where you can buy in a few clicks.”

It continued: “Pinterest is like your personal stylist. We can give you recommendations for products to buy based on your unique taste and what’s trending, and show you a range of visual ideas.”

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