Thanks for the pictures: Klarna
Klarna, the payment and shopping platform, today announced new features and updates aimed at providing users with a more personalized shopping experience.
These include Ask Klarna, a personal shopping assistant where users can talk to real fashion experts; Creator Shops, a customized store for content creators; an AI-based information shopping channel; and sales features, among other new tools.
The set of new features, which are rolling out to select regions such as the US, UK and Germany, come as the Swedish fintech company continues to shift its focus from being just a shop-now, pay-later platform to becoming a total shopping destination for its 150 million users.
Klarna also introduced a redesigned interface for its app. The Klarna app will now have new tabs: Store, Shopping, In store, Budget and You. The company hopes the update will help consumers discover new products and manage their purchase history more efficiently.
Over the past 18 years, we have transformed ourselves into a global shopping destination with smart tools for consumers around the world, said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna. Launched today, the new tools will create a richer and more enjoyable experience for everyone on the shopping journey, creating huge opportunities for retailers to grow their businesses.
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Thanks for the pictures: Klarna
With Ask Klarna, the company has acquired a group of trained shopping experts to help consumers with their purchases via chat or video call within Klarna.com and the Klarnas mobile app. Klarnas personal customers can offer advice and inform them about products from thousands of brands and stores.
This feature uses the technology of the social shopping platform HERO, which Klarna acquired in 2021, to bring product reviews, real-time advice and informative content to its users.
According to a recent Klarna survey, 85% of US respondents said they wanted a service where they could talk to product experts to get more information about products. The company has also noticed that consumers are less confident about buying more expensive items online, Klarnas chief marketing officer David Sandstrom told TechCrunch.
When people buy high-priced items, there’s still uncertainty when they do it digitally, Sandstrom said. If you want to buy a luxury handbag, especially if it is not for yourself, you do not have enough confidence in this purchase. You want to talk to someone.
Currently, Ask Klarna is limited to luxury fashion items, but will soon expand to more expensive items such as TVs, smartphones, drones and other electronics.
Any type of high value item where we see a lack of consumer confidence. That’s where we want to put this feature, Sandstrom added.
Notably, the new personal shopping service is completely free for users. Plus, you don’t have to be a top 1% spender to qualify for the service, which Sandstrom says some other fashion companies are doing with their online shopping assistants.
At this point, the company has no plans to monetize, at least not yet.
The business model will likely continue to evolve depending on how popular it is. We’ll see where it takes us, Sandstrom told us.
At launch, Ask Klarna is only available to US users. It will arrive in the UK and Germany later this year.
Last month, Klarna announced its new ChatGPT plugin, which also provides users with product recommendations. So, whether you want to ask a human or an OpenAIs chatbot if a designer handbag is worth spending thousands of dollars on, Klarna now lets you do both.
Speaking of AI, the company has found another way to integrate the technology into its platform. Klarna has a new, personalized and AI-powered shopping channel that helps consumers find items that are more relevant to them based on their preferences.
Our new shopping channel based on artificial intelligence is the next evolution of the Klarna app, which becomes the starting point for every purchase. This builds on a number of initiatives that have been worked on in the artificial intelligence space to provide consumers with a higher level of personalization that was once thought impossible, Siemiatkowski added.
The redesigned feed will still have the recently launched search and compare tool at the top of the screen, so users can continue to search for products on sale, what’s the lowest price, shipping options and what’s in stock.
Thanks for the pictures: Klarna
In addition to the search and comparison tool, Klarna also launched its Creator app last year to help influencers connect with brands. The app also allowed content creators to track their performance, earnings and sales.
According to Sandstrom, there are currently 12,000 verified creators on the platform.
Now, the company allows creators to launch their own storefronts on Klarna.com, so their followers can click through the store, watch their shoppable videos and buy recommended products.
Similar to influencer shopping app LTK, Klarnas’ new Creator Shops feature also allows creators to share their personal shop on their social media accounts and post content that includes links to each item in a photo or video, which in turn increases their chance of earning. revenues.
The Klarna Creator Platform has opened up a new world of opportunities when it comes to affiliate content, content creator Lydia Tomlinson said in a statement. With my new Creator Shop, I have the perfect place to showcase everything I wear, use and love. My followers can now easily find and shop my latest looks in one place, saving them the hassle of wondering where to shop.
Creator Shops are only available on Klarna.com, but will soon be launched in the Klarna app. This feature has not yet launched in the US, but has been rolled out for authors in the UK, Sweden and Germany.
If you have clothes sitting in your closet untouched, Klarna offers to help speed up the process of reselling them, but only if you used Klarna to buy them. The company is introducing a resale feature that allows Klarna customers to sell products they no longer want.
In the Klarna app, users can tap the Sell button next to an item in their order history. Users are then redirected to a third-party re-trading platform. Klarna pre-populates the listing with product details, description and images, which can often take a lot of time. Users can set the price of the item.
The resale feature was launched earlier this year and is currently only available to Swedish users. Klarna has partnered with Tradera sales platform and will soon be launching with other partners around the world.
Later this year, Resell will launch in the US, UK and Germany.
Klarna also helps brands with ad creation, audience targeting and campaign optimization. Ads Manager is a newly launched platform for retailers that allows them to access Klarnas first party data and target the right shoppers.
Merchants can publish ads directly to the Klarnas personalized shopping channel.
There are about 450,000 brands on the platform, including Steve Madden, Nike, Lululemon, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and more.
