Retail Channels
20 October 2022
Klarna launches price compare, shoppable video, creator platform
The company wants to be a destination for more than payments.

Klarna Spotlight features. (Courtesy image)
The company wants to be a destination for more than payments.
Klarna Spotlight features. (Courtesy image)
Klarna is known for providing tools to facilitate purchases. Now it wants to be more known as a place to find products to buy, too.
The company on Wednesday rolled out a number of new shopping features under the heading of Klarna Spotlight, including search, shoppable video and a creator platform. While Klarna already had shopping, it is not as widely known as a destination for browsing and discovery as it is for payments. In particular, its buy now pay later function, which allows users to pay in installments, became popular during the pandemic, though it offers multiple ways to pay.
CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in an announcement on Wednesday that “payments solve only part of the puzzle,” and the new features will help it evolve beyond them. The company wants to become a “true shopping utility for consumers and growth partner for retailers” and become a “starting point” for purchases.
“The new products revealed today mark a major milestone in Klarna's evolution to becoming a place where consumers and retailers can now search, discover, and create,” Siemiatkowski said. “From inspiring product discovery all the way to delivery tracking, digital receipts and seamless returns – we are powering ecommerce and accelerating trade across the world."
Here’s a look at the new features:
Klarna’s search tool is built to help users the best price for a product. The unbiased tool compares prices across thousands of websites. Results are listed in an “orderly overview,” the company said, with both new and pre-loved items displayed. Items can be filtered by color, size, features, customer ratings, store availability and shipping options. A price range can also be displayed.
The search tool is available in the Klarna App and on Klarna.com. But there’s another area where it could have a bigger impact: The functionality will also be available in a new panel within the company’s in-app browser. This means information will appear when a user is browsing a product page, including whether other retailers are offering a better price, faster and cheaper delivery options or different sizes and color. At checkout, the tool will also look for and apply available coupons.
Here’s how the company is positioning it: “With over 23 million monthly active users on the Klarna App, the search and compare tool becomes a key acquisition channel for merchants, boosting their visibility, traffic, and sales with a captive audience.”
Klarna is also bringing content into the shopping experience through shoppable video that is available under the Watch and shop widget in its app. This feature will allow users to watch unboxings, tutorials and reviews from thousands of videos made by brands and creators. The items that appear can be shopped directly from the videos.
Brands can either share existing videos or make new content for the platform. They can also partner with Klarna to be featured in curated content and campaigns. Brands using the feature to date include e.l.f. Cosmetics, Keys Soulcare and Haus Labs by Lady Gaga.
“Our mission at Haus Labs is to deliver supercharged, clean artistry makeup, powered by innovation,” said Lady Gaga, in a statement. "Haus Labs is excited to launch shoppable video content in the Klarna App, empowering our community of artists and creators to express themselves through high-performance makeup and their unique artistry, while engaging with millions of fans around the world.”
Along with shoppable video, Klarna has a new hub for the creators who make content. Klarna says the platform provides a “one-stop shop” for creators to connect with retailers. It provides tools that automate initial outreach, partnerships, as well as tracking sales and commissions.
Klarna touted scale for both sides of the equation. Creators can directly access retailers, who are making available “hundreds of thousands” of products to be recommended to audiences. For retailers, the company says the platform provides a pool of 500,000 creators, and tracking for performance.
Klarna is rolling out an upgraded carbon emissions tracker that provides insights into the environmental impact of purchases. It displays emissions set free for over 50 million items throughout the product’s lifecycle, from the sourcing of raw materials to recycling.
Klarna is also adding a new donations feature to its app. This allows shoppers to donate to vetted organizations that are focused on planet health. The feature also allows users to track the aggregate volume of donations made, and learn more about the nonprofits.
This isn't the first time we've seen a shopping rollout from Klarna this year. The new features follow the release of Klarna’s Virtual Shopping feature earlier this year. Here’s how we described it at launch:
The service connects online shoppers with experts at brick-and-mortar stores who can offer a closer look at the items they are browsing. Through the newly-launched, merchant-facing Klarna Store App, members of an in-store team can send photos and video of products, and present live demos.
This feature gelled with a company that integrates with many in-store retailers, and, judging by the banners on view during a recent trip to the mall, sees opportunity to expand in that area.
The new features, however, are more tied to direct ecommerce purchases by consumers through Klarna, and less about providing additional services to its merchant partners. Of the new features, tying search to price feels particularly natural for Klarna, given its reputation for payments and its existing goal of providing a way to shop the internet from its app. The new browser panel in particular, stands out as a tool that could help shoppers feel like they have an advantage. Shoppable video and a creator platform feel very 2022, and they may well prove to be table stakes for ecommerce going forward. The scale of content and creators at launch is also noteworthy. But it’s less clear how Klarna plans to reach shoppers with the content that they want to see. Remember: TikTok’s power is just as much about the “For You” algorithm as it is about creators and short-form video.
Klarna is making these additions at a time when it has faced a pullback. After expanding quickly to meet demand for buy now pay later during the pandemic, the company’s reported losses in the first half of 2022 that were three times as high as the year prior, even as its revenue jumped 24%, CNBC reported. It has made two rounds of layoffs, including one that accounted for about 10% of the company’s team. It also raised funds at a valuation that was 85% lower than its prior round. The company had been profitable until 2019, when it mounted an aggressive US expansion.
At the same time, buy now pay later as a whole has attracted scrutiny. In September, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau expressed concern about rising late fees, and growing use of BNPL for routine purchases, while promising to bring regulation.
It’s a moment when creating new revenue streams and leaning into less controversial business lines may be necessary.
Italy topped NewStore's audit of global omnichannel adoption across Europe and Australia.
For brands and retailers, omnichannel is no longer optional.
That’s a big learning from the pandemic, when demand for online shopping surged, and retailers built up capabilities to extend the shopping experience across digital and physical stores.
While ecommerce sales growth may slow from its breakneck pace to move back to its previous trajectory, the capabilities built by brands to serve shoppers wherever they happen to be aren’t going to be taken away anytime soon.
It has reoriented how brands think about the elements that are necessary to put in place for success in retail.
“Brands have to be all in on omnichannel, so there is no one tool that is more important than the rest,” said Phil Granof, CMO of NewStore. “Capabilities like BOPIS, BORIS, endless aisle, and store fulfillment have become table stakes for every brand. Going forward, retailers should focus on building seamless, omnichannel experiences that meet the needs of their customers, regardless of where they are located. That means offering solutions that best meet the individual needs of their business.”
However, the parts of those experiences will be adjusted as technology develops, and consumer behavior shifts. Retailers will still have to act quickly to respond to shifts in demand, Granof said. That has been evident in the years since 2020. While the pandemic lockdown phase has passed, the macroeconomic environment driven by inflation and interest rates is now upending day-to-day processes, and reshaping priorities and budgets.
What was built to meet the last moment can be refined in this one.
“Today, it’s important for these businesses to take stock of what’s working and what isn’t — especially when it comes to the quick fixes implemented to meet an immediate need a few years ago,” Granof said. “Now is the time for brands to invest in a tech stack built for the long haul vs. patching together solutions that simply fill a gap. At the end of the day, successful brands are defined not by resiliency but by their adaptability, and omnichannel is the best safeguard against the unpredictable nature of retail.”
With benchmarking in mind, NewStore set out to identify the leaders in omnichannel around the world, and compiled results in the first-ever global edition of the Omnichannel Leadership Report. The software company recently conducted an audit of 275 retail brands across six markets including Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.
Leveraging third-party mystery shoppers, NewStore found the following brands were the leaders:
For North America, there are lessons to be learned from other regions. NewStore found that Italy topped the U.S. in omnichannel maturity to achieve the #1 ranking, with a score of 40% overall adoption to 36% for the second-place America. Plus, many of the markets surveyed in this report were among the leaders.
North America remains the overall regional leader, but there are still international trends that provide lessons for brands here. Granof shared the following two areas where Europe shines:
Mobile shopping apps are becoming increasingly popular in Europe. In Spain and the UK, more than 40% of retailers have shopping apps, while only 33% of brands in the U.S. and Canada have one. There could be massive opportunities here, as retail sales from mobile apps are expected to grow 50% this year, Granof said.
Payment innovation. This is an area where the U.S. is lagging behind Europe. Only 76% of retailers accept contactless payments in the U.S., while the adoption rate sits at 96% in Europe. However, there could be room for the U.S. to make gains. Features like Tap to Pay on iPhone allow retailers to accept contactless payments without a terminal, providing room to catch up without the need for a hardware installation. It underscores how the latest technology can help brands leap ahead.