Since 2005 Klarna has been on a mission to revolutionise the retail banking industry. With 147 million global active users and 2 million transactions per day, Klarna is meeting the changing demands of consumers by saving them time and money while helping them be informed and in control of their personal finances. Over 400.000 global retail partners have integrated Klarna’s innovative technology to deliver a seamless shopping experience online and in-store.
Klarna is continuing its journey from payments platform to shopping ecosystem; it now offers retailers more than just payment solutions having extended its expertise and tech offering to marketing solutions. By acquiring new tech, Klarna now supports retailers to reach new audiences, build a strong brand, and create long-lasting loyalty. By encouraging retailers to make bold moves, Klarna supplies them with all tools and tech needed in order to grow their business. We had a chat with Klarna New Zealand’s Head of Partner Success, Iain Gillanders, to learn more about the latest products available with Klarna for Business.
What does a bold move mean for Klarna and for retailers?
Secure payments are now table stakes in e-commerce, something retailers and shoppers expect. While Klarna’s origins are in payments, and it remains a core part of our business, we started to think new, big and bold, to offer retailers more than secure payments. We want to be a growth engine for our retail partners, helping drive traffic to their stores, foster long-lasting relationships with customers, build a strong brand, and grow sales. That’s why Klarna is making a bold move and now expanded our product offering to include marketing and advertising solutions that truly help brands walk that extra mile.
What do retailers need to keep in mind when planning their future growth?
We are all operating in an incredibly fast-paced and dynamic environment however there are three core areas that will always stay relevant: customers, markets and technology. As retailers, it is more important than ever to be customer-centric and constantly re-evaluate the consumer mindset. It is so incredibly important to connect with customers in ways that are convenient for them. Markets always evolve and consumers demand greater value often resulting in pressure on margins. We must constantly seek out new operational efficiencies to enhance this value. New innovative technology like those offered by Klarna for Business solutions allows forward-thinking retailers to lean into change and realise these efficiencies.
What does it mean to be a Klarna for Business partner?
Klarna for Business enables our partners to solve some of the biggest retail challenges they face – driving user engagement, conversion, basket size and repeat purchase – all while delivering real measurable operational efficiencies. Along with these efficiencies we arm our partners with powerful, customer-driven insights generated within the Klarna for Business ecosystem. As a partner, we provide your customer’s inspiration and a shopping experience that enables brand discovery, convenience, choice and control, and open up the doors to our network of 147 million consumers. Not only do we enable our partners to offer flexible payments, but we also give them access to a series of marketing solutions that help retailers drive traffic to their stores, reach new customers and turn browsers into shoppers. With more than 15 years of experience, Klarna brings expertise and knowledge from being a leading e-commerce partner globally.
Tell us a bit more about Klarna’s marketing solutions.
This year, we launched a series of new products following a series of really exciting acquisitions last year. For example, Klarna partners can now leverage AI to create dynamic ads for their products. We are in a unique position to offer the Klarna Dynamic Ads technology to brands that are part of the Klarna family to help them save costs, reduce creative turnaround times, and have fresh, relevant content across social channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat, to name a few.
With Klarna acquisition of Hero, we also launched Klarna Virtual Shopping. Virtual Shopping is a tool that allows retailers to connect e-commerce shoppers with in-store experts for advice and inspiration via video calling to showcase products, and to help shoppers get an accurate impression of size, colour, quality and material when buying online.
Another exciting addition to our marketing solutions offering is the Klarna Influencer Marketing Platform, helping retailers to leverage the power of influence. This product helps retailers to find and collaborate with influencers, track and enhance these relationships, and maximise the ROI, all in one place.
