Member Spotlight: Klarna

29 Jul Member Spotlight: Klarna

Smooth, simple and safe, those three ‘S’ words act as an excellent introduction to Klarna’s services. Named by CNBC as one of the most disruptive companies in the world, this e-commerce company will definitely improve your online conversion and make them more transparant. Klarna roughly translates to “clear” in Swedish.

It started 11 years ago, in 2005, at the Stockholm School of Economics annual entrepreneurship awards. The three founders Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsson, presented their idea of how to provide consumers with safer and simpler online shopping payment methods. However, their idea was not received with enthusiasm. Their entry was among the last ones in the competition. As we know now, they did not give up that day. Instead, they started their business in Sweden and now the company has more than 1400 employees, operates in 18 different countries and supports 65,000 online stores worldwide. The company is valued at 2.25 billion USD (2015).

What makes Klarna special and so successful? 45 million consumers who use it can come with the answer: things have never been so simple yet so safe. Making an online purchase by simply entering email address and zip code does the trick. With the ‘Pay After Delivery’ service, customers can avoid lengthy registration processes and annoying card numbers when they make a purchase. They receive their goods before they pay for them.

Klarna assumes all risk for both merchants and consumers.

Since there’s no login required and no need to fill out card numbers, Klarna’s payments are not only convenient for buyers but they are also a method of increasing website conversion. Without friction, mobile performs as well as desktop. Furthermore, purchases from different e-stores can be collected in one single invoice issued every month. Therefore, Klarna’s services are an ideal solution for both buyers and sellers.

“Klarna is one of the biggest Fintech players in Europe”, says Jasper Scheffer, Senior Partner Manager at Klarna. Asked about the relationship between Fintech and Klarna, he answers: “We are working with the biggest financial institutions, providing payment services, and issue credit online. That’s what makes us Fin. Out of more than 1400 of our employees about 40% are tech-people, providing the best solutions for our clients, and that is our Tech.” “Being a member of Holland FinTech gives the company an access and a possibility to create an important network with other financial institutions,” he continues. “Some of our business partners are members of Holland FinTech, which creates a professional playground for all of us. Klarna hosted an event previously, during which we had the pleasure of presenting a live one-click purchase. Now we are looking forward to presenting our vision and plans for the near future at the next meeting.