Overview
Klarna is a Swedish financial technology company and one of Europe's most prominent fintech success stories. Founded in Stockholm in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth, and Victor Jacobsson with the goal of making online shopping payment simpler, Klarna has grown into a global payments and shopping platform used by over 150 million consumers and 500,000 retailers in 45 countries.
Klarna's core product — buy now, pay later (BNPL) — allows consumers to purchase items and pay in instalments or after delivery, without interest for the standard pay-in-30-days option. This seemingly simple idea has had a profound effect on e-commerce conversion rates, particularly for fashion and lifestyle purchases where shoppers want to try before fully committing. Retailers that add Klarna consistently see increases in average order value and conversion rate.
Product suite
Klarna's product range has expanded well beyond its original pay-later offering. Pay in 3 (or Pay in 4 in the US) splits purchases into equal instalments. Financing offers longer-term payment plans for larger purchases. The Klarna Card is a physical Visa card applying Klarna's pay-later logic to in-store purchases. The Klarna app has evolved into a shopping browser and deals platform, allowing users to shop from any retailer with Klarna-powered checkout, manage payments, track deliveries, and access exclusive offers.
The shopping platform and retail media
Beyond payments, Klarna has been building a consumer-facing shopping destination. The Klarna app shows deals, trending products, and curated shopping content, and brands can advertise within the app to reach Klarna's large and purchase-intent-rich user base. This retail media capability is growing in importance as brands seek alternatives to Google and Meta advertising with demonstrably higher purchase intent signals from a consumer base that is actively in shopping mode.
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