Klarna’s super app launch kicks off transformation from payments platform into end-to-end shopping hub

The news: Buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Klarna unveiled a super app that consolidates shopping, payment management, and support for products, delivery, and returns, per a press release.

• Through an in-app browser, customers can shop at any online store, regardless of whether Klarna has a standing partnership with the seller.
• The app provides personalized shopping collections, as well as deals and price-drop notifications. Customers can also save products and make one-click payments.
• It also offers improved spending visibility and budgeting tools, and shoppers can track deliveries for purchases made with or without Klarna and manage returns in the app.

Klarna said it will introduce other features to the app—including money-saving tools, live shopping events, and enhanced product data like reviews and price history.

The opportunity: Klarna’s new app can help drive user and revenue growth and could push it ahead of competitors.

The super app helps transform Klarna from a payments platform into a shopping hub.

• The “shop anywhere” integration—coupled with personalization, deals, and enhanced product support—lets Klarna control the entire shopping experience, helping keep customers tied to its ecosystem and increasing revenue potential.
• Acquisitions from earlier this summer foreshadowed Klarna’s super app ambitions: In July, the firm acquired retail tech startup HERO, which connects online shoppers with in-store retail associates. It also bought discount shopping platform Stocard, which stores customers’ loyalty and rewards cards in one place and automatically applies any discounts at checkout.
• And this week, Klarna acquired price comparison platform PriceRunner, which it could integrate into its super app.

Klarna’s super app can also give it a leg up on competitors.

• The launch gives Klarna a first-mover advantage against players like Square (which recently purchased Afterpay) and Affirm—both of which have signaled super app interests.
• And it strengthens Klarna’s defense against banks, many of which recently entered the BNPL fray and have threatened to scoop up market share from incumbent BNPL players.
• The app also puts Klarna on more level ground with PayPal, which expanded its reach in the BNPL space and introduced its own super app.

Quotable: “For us, buy now, pay later is a very important feature, but it’s not the whole [business]. We’re doing so much more. … We want to help consumers with all problems related to shopping, and we want to help merchants grow their business. And that goes beyond just offering buy now, pay later,” Klarna’s chief product officer, David Fock, told Insider Intelligence.

Related content: We’ve just scratched the surface of super apps—check out our “Financial Super Apps Matrix” for a deep dive into the global super app race.