Merchant Services Drive Klarna Take Rate

Klarna is using merchant services to turn a checkout lender into a commerce toll road. The important shift is that revenue is coming not just from financing a basket, but from helping merchants get the sale, surface products in the app, and reach shoppers before checkout. That matters because ads and other merchant tools carry higher margins than credit, while also making Klarna harder for merchants to swap out.1 2 3

• In 2024, Klarna generated about $180M from in app merchant ads, 6% of revenue, up 15x since 2020. That is a small slice today, but it is one of the clearest pieces of take rate expansion because the same merchant relationship now produces marketing revenue on top of BNPL fees.1
• The merchant value is concrete. Retailers use Klarna because the button lifts conversion on baskets that feel expensive in the moment, and can help sell more items at full price before markdowns. Once Klarna can prove that lift, merchants are more willing to buy extra placement and promotion inside Klarna's shopping surfaces.2
• This is also where Klarna differs from pure lenders like Affirm. Affirm has become a higher AOV financing partner tied to platforms like Shopify and Adyen, while Klarna is building a shopping app and closed loop network around lower AOV everyday commerce. Merchant ads fit naturally into Klarna's app led model in a way they do not for a checkout only product.1 3

The next step is for more merchant spend to move from payment acceptance into audience buying inside Klarna's app. If Klarna keeps owning discovery, checkout, and debit based repeat purchases in one flow, merchant services should become a larger and structurally more profitable layer of the business than BNPL alone.1 3