Payments company Klarna launches ‘buy now pay later’ in UK

Klarna, one of Europe’s leading payment providers, has announced it has partnered with Topshop-owner Arcadia Group to launch its sales financing solution ‘Buy now pay later’ in the United Kingdom. Customers of brands such as Topshop and Miss Selfridge now have the option to buy products online and pay for them over time.

With ‘Buy now pay later’, customers won’t have to fill in their personal details or credit application forms. The payments company wants to separate buying from paying and pre-authorizes customers in real-time when the order is placed. If a customer is deemed eligible for credit, he can buy the product without paying and after he received the item, he can pay for it interest free for up to 90 days after purchase.

67% of UK shoppers left shopping basket online

This payment method should help retailers with their high abandonment rates. Research from Klarna has shown that two-thirds of UK shoppers have left an online shopping basket. This represents an average loss of 43,700 euros per British retailer each year.

“More consumers are shopping on the go than ever before, but in our fast-paced lives shoppers get frustrated by long and complex checkouts and a lack of flexible payment options. To get ahead, retailers need to offer a simple, hassle free browsing and buying experience that integrates seamlessly into their customers’ lives”, Luke Griffiths, UK General Manager of Klarna said.

International launch of ‘Buy now pay later’

The partnership with the British fashion giant Arcadia Group, which owns brands such as Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Outfit and Wallis, is part of Klarna’s wider international launch of its ‘Buy now pay later’ solution. In the US it launched this solution together with some leading ecommerce solution providers such as BigCommerce, Shopify and Magento. Shoes.com and Kule.com are some of the retailers that are already live with the financing solution.