Dive Brief:

• Klarna’s app has undergone a major redesign that includes a personalized shopping feed powered by artificial intelligence (AI), a personal shopper service called Ask Klarna and a new resell feature, according to details the company shared with Marketing Dive.
• The update also includes a self-service advertising platform for retailers and customized storefronts for creators. Some of the new features are currently available in select regions, with the rollout of the update expected to continue throughout the year.
• The news sees Klarna improving the experience for consumers, creators and advertisers as it looks drive growth following a year of increases in both its user base and revenue from marketing partnerships with retailers. 

Dive Insight:

Klarna’s new features see the brand trying to give retailers, creators and shoppers additional incentive to use its app, arriving as mobile shopping continues to gain traction.

Perhaps the buzziest of the new features, the AI-powered shopping feed is powered by Klarna’s proprietary AI product recommendation engine. The effort follows a recent tie-up between the company and OpenAI’s ChatGPT to offer an integrated plug-in for those using the generative AI tool to search for shopping ideas. 

There’s something for creators as well. In a push to grow its creator network, Klarna added a feature allowing creators to launch storefronts through the company paired with tools to help drive success. The move builds off its recently launched Creator Platform, which offers the ability for creators to recommend items, share shoppable video and photos, and market their shop across social networks with the ability to earn revenue. Rolling out soon, creators will also be able to share the shoppable social media content within Klarna’s app.

On the other side of the equation, Klarna is making it easier for retailers to connect with potential customers. Through its self-service Ads Manager, marketers can gain access to Klarna’s first-party data to create more relevant shopping experiences, offering ad creation and audience targeting tools, among others. The move sees the company angling to become a more serious player in the retail media space, noting that marketing revenue from its partnerships with retailers was up 131% last year, per release details.

Additionally, consumers will have access to a resell feature meant to streamline the selling process on secondhand marketplaces by auto-filling product details and images. The feature can be used for past Klarna purchases with participating re-commerce platforms. Only available in Sweden currently, the resell features will gradually roll out to the U.S., U.K. and Germany in the coming months.

Klarna also hopes to make the app more convenient for consumers by streamlining the experiences for shopping and managing finances. Relevant tools are now part of an intuitive interface meant to help users find products and track spending while accessing back-end information like shipping updates, digital receipts and manage returns. The new Ask Klarna free personal shopping service provides on-demand access to shopping experts via chat or video call.

Ahead of its app redesign, Klarna in February touted its success in the U.S., noting that its gross merchandise volume within the market jumped 71% in 2022 compared to the year prior. The company’s customer count in the U.S. also jumped, growing 36% to 34 million as of the end of last year, up from 25 million at the end of 2021.

In a push to market itself, Klarna earlier this year launched a global campaign alongside hotel heiress Paris Hilton.