Klarna launches comparison shopping service across Europe

Buy now pay later big hitter Klarna has launched a comparison shopping service (CSS) in 21 markets.

These are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

David Sandström, Chief Marketing Officer at Klarna, says: “With this new product, we enable retailers to list their Google Product Listings Ads more efficiently.”

Also of interest: Buy now pay later spend set to hit $995 billion by 2026

“Concretely, this means that we offer retailers a more effective and cheaper way to increase their customer reach and convert highly relevant traffic from consumers who are searching for products they want to purchase, thereby maximising merchants’ return on advertising spend.”

He adds: “As a growth partner for our retailers, we are thrilled to be launching even more products and services to support their strategy in the near future.”

Klarna

Last week, Klarna raised $639 million at a post-money valuation of $45.6 billion.

This came just three months after the Swedish company’s last mega funding round and cemented its status as Europe’s most valuable private FinTech venture.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 led the latest round, which also included participation from existing investors Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group.

Klarna plans to use the new capital to continue to grow in the US and globally.

“Klarna’s growth is founded on a deep understanding of how the purchasing behaviours of consumers are changing, an evolution which we believe is accelerating,” said Yanni Pipilis, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.

Charm offensive

There has been increasing political and regulatory scrutiny of buy now, pay later companies in recent times, based around concerns that they tempt consumers to purchase goods they cannot afford.

As a result, Klarna has been on something of a charm offensive, whilst also taking aim at traditional banks and credit card companies.

Last month, for instance, it launched a UK campaign titled #WhyPayInterest.

Running across OOH, online, on social media and in print, this aims to highlight the difference between BNPL products and traditional credit cards, challenging what Klarna calls “outdated business models and products that don’t serve consumers’ best interests”.