Klarna hails 'phenomenal' year as major investment pays off

Klarna has released its annual financial report for 2018.

In the last quarter of the year, 25,000 new UK consumers used the venture’s Pay later service. There are 4.4 million Klarna users across all available payment options in the UK market — Pay now (via card), Pay later and consumer finance.

With an average of one million transactions a day on its platform, the company’s total global sales volumes rose by 36% YOY in 2018 to $29 billion. There was also a 31% lift in revenue to $627 million. Adding 25,398 new merchants globally in 2018 - growth of almost 25% compared to 2017 - it now provides payment services to over 130,000 retailers, including Ikea, H&M and its brands (Cos, & Other Stories, Monki, Weekday, Arket), Ticketmaster Europe and Sonos. It also pulled in almost 26 million new consumers last year

“2018 has been a phenomenal year for us. Klarna has led the market in establishing an entirely new category with Pay later, that has proved hugely popular with today’s savvy consumers expecting more flexible, personalised and intuitive ways to shop,” says Luke Griffiths, UK General Manager for Klarna.

“To turbocharge future growth, we made a strategic decision at the start of 2018 to significantly increase investments in people, systems and products in order to further strengthen capabilities and support future business plans. And with more and more consumers using and loving our offering, we feel very optimistic that this trajectory will continue,” he adds.