SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 ― Pinterest continues to attract web users, with the platform now counting some 478 million monthly active users worldwide. Year-on-year, Pinterest has seen 30 per cent growth in active users. But while the figures are good, they also show a slow in momentum for the site's growth compared to 2020.

Pinterest now counts 98 million monthly active users in the US and 380 million internationally, reports the platform and Social Media Today. In Q4 2020, Pinterest had 459 million monthly active users, with 98 million in the US and 361 million internationally.

The Covid-19 pandemic has largely contributed to the Pinterest boom. In 2020, the platform saw strong Q2 growth of 39 per cent, followed by two quarters at 37 per cent growth (year-on-year). For Q1 2021, Pinterest's year-on-year growth has dropped back to 30 per cent, a slowdown that can be explained by improvements in the Covid-19 situation, and notably vaccination.

With lockdowns, restrictions and stores and services closed in many countries due to Covid-19, Pinterest managed to carve out a place in the eCommerce sector. Recently, the platform announced it was expanding its partnership with Shopify to 27 new countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Brazil. This tool allows web users around the world to shop online without having to leave the house ― an undeniable boon in pandemic times, which helped drive continuous growth on the platform last year.

"Based on what we've observed in the US recently, we believe that post-covid shopping engagement could be more resilient than overall engagement. It isn't enough for Pinners to be able to find inspiring products and services on our platform. We must also make it easy for them to buy the products that bring their dreams to life. To that end, we plan to begin testing seamless on-platform transactions later this year,” said Pinterest, according to Social Media Today. ― ETX Studio