Klarna Becoming a Shopping Destination

Klarna’s D2C push means BNPL is no longer just a checkout feature, it is becoming the top of a consumer shopping funnel. Instead of waiting for a shopper to see Klarna on a merchant site, Klarna wants the shopper to start inside its app, browse stores, track prices and deliveries, then use a one time card or pay later option anywhere online. That gives Klarna more repeat usage, more first party shopping data, and more leverage with merchants.

• The merchant value starts at conversion, but the bigger prize is owning the shopper relationship. A former merchant partner described Klarna’s app push as a way to move beyond being a checkout button and learn a customer’s shopping habits directly, not just their credit profile.
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• This is different from merchant first checkout companies like Bolt and Rally. They want to help brands recognize shoppers and raise conversion while keeping the merchant’s own checkout and brand in front. Klarna is taking the opposite route by becoming a shopping destination itself.
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• That shift has gotten bigger over time. By 2024, Klarna’s shopping app was processing about $10B in annual GMV, and Klarna was pairing that app with banking products and debit payments. The goal is to sit on both sides of the transaction and reduce dependence on pure BNPL economics.
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From here, Klarna is heading toward a model that looks less like a lender and more like a consumer commerce network. If it keeps pulling shopping activity into its app, it can sell merchants traffic, capture lower cost payment volume, and use BNPL as one feature inside a much larger retail and banking product.