Klarna Checkout launched in Germany, but what is it?

Klarna Checkout is a new solution from the Swedish invoice payment provider, that enables online retailers to offer their customers all the popular payment methods in one payment solution. Customers only need to provide their e-mail address and postcode to complete a purchase. We tried it out at the Klarna office in Amsterdam.

When we first heard of Klarna Checkout, we reacted quite skeptically. How would a payment solution that only requires an e-mail address and a postcode NOT attract tons of frauds? We headed over to Klarna’s office in Amsterdam and talked with Philipp Pudelko about their new payment option.

This is what they have to say about Klarna Checkout: “It’s revolutionary in its simplicity. Customers only need to provide their e-mail address and postcode to complete a purchase. That’s it. And that’s all we need to perform a credit control, within a second.” For consumers it may indeed be quite a positive experience, not having to fill in any long registration processes or forms. And that’s also good news for online retailers, as less customers probably will leave their shopping carts.

Customers don’t need to choose a payment method
Last month Klarna Checkout got launched in Germany, after it was already active in home country Sweden. What also makes Klarna Checkout stand out from other payment solutions, is that customers don’t need to choose a payment method beforehand. They fill in their e-mail address and postcode, they click the ‘pay’ button and only after this they get 30 minutes to choose their desired payment method. If they don’t choose anything, they automatically opt for invoice payment.

Because Klarna Checkout uses an iframe, consumers don’t have to fill in their data every time they want to order something. Klarna Checkout remembers their data and fills it in for them. This method could especially come in handy for mobile orders, as shoppers now only need to fill in a two simple things and press the ‘pay’ button.

Klarna Checkout in The Netherlands or other countries?
In order to make Klarna Checkout work, the company needs to have loads of data so they can properly run their fraud prevention program. This is also one of the main reason Klarna Checkout isn´t available yet in let´s say The Netherlands. The company first need regular orders before they can even start with Klarna Checkout. It´s not to say they won´t offer this solution in the near future in The Netherlands, as the company completed some great deals with big online retailers like V&D, Neckermann and Fonq.