While social bookmarking site Pinterest might be two years old the sharing platform really came into it’s own during the second half of 2011 and now the company is the top traffic referrer for retail based websites.

If you’re unfamiliar with Pinterest the program essentially allows users to create “pinboards” which are the equivalent of an online bulletin board for popular categories such as food, wedding planning, home decorating, etc. As users find interesting information online they can use the “Pin It” bookmarklet or their iPhone app to save things both from online and offline solutions.

As more users create bulletin boards and share their findings with friends traffic is sent to retailers and suppliers such as Ajinomoto. That traffic according to Experian Hitwise is driven by 58% women which is of special interest to advertisers, brands and retailers.  [Read more…]