Klarna says “Salut!” to France with unique shopping experience

Klarna, the leading global payments provider, bank and shopping service, currently serving more than 250,000 retail partners and 90 million consumers globally, officially launches in France today by introducing “Pay in 3”. The Swedish fintech, founded in 2005, is now making its mark in a booming e-commerce market, with the ambition of revolutionizing the online shopping experience.

With the launch of “Pay in 3” (“Paiement en 3 fois”) French shoppers will be able to securely purchase their products from their favorite online stores and spread the cost of their purchase over three interest-free payments, charged every 30 days. Klarna is also introducing the Klarna app which offers consumers convenience, inspiration and value throughout the whole shopping journey. In the app, consumers will be able to see pictures of purchased items, keep track of and manage their payments, save favorite items to wish lists, receive price drop notifications on saved items as well as track their carbon emissions.

“The French retail and payments landscape is one of the fastest evolving markets in the world, as consumers embrace digital payments and online shopping at record pace. This is an exciting time to launch in France and I believe Klarna can really make a difference to French consumers, making it easy to shop and pay in a way that suits them – allowing them to take control of their money and purchases with complete security, transparency, with no interest and no hassle. We already work with leading French brands on a global level. I can’t wait to start working with more French retailers to help them grow their business both in France, and internationally”, said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO and co-founder of Klarna.

“We are very excited to bring our shopping solutions to France. Our seamless online shopping experience for consumers combined with our global expertise from working with over 250,000 retailers will help French retailers meet consumers’ rapidly increasing demand for smarter, flexible and more personalized shopping experiences. We are absolutely focused on becoming French retailers preferred growth partner and help them build loyal and satisfied customers in the long term”, said Eric Petitfils, Head of Sales and Partnerships France at Klarna.

Klarna is launching in France at a time when online is gaining momentum. According to a study conducted by Kantar, 2.5 million new online shoppers were registered in the first half of 2020 and 30% of them want to repeat the experience. Online purchases in 2020 are estimated at €112 billion, an increase of 8.9% compared to 2019, and more than 17,400 additional e-commerce sites have already launched this year, according to recent data published by the Federation of e-commerce and distance selling (Fevad).

Klarna will set up shop with a local team and office in Paris adding to its European offices in Germany, the UK, the Nordics, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy.