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Image credit: Klarna

Swedish fintech giant Klarna, which raised $639M last week, has today announced the launch of their new Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) in 21 markets. The company claims, with this development, it will enable its partner retailers across Europe to increase customer reach, save budget for advertising spend, and drive traffic from high shopping intent consumers.

In addition, the Klarna comparison shopping page will also provide new opportunities for brands to reach browsing consumers with their products.

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How does Klarna Comparison Shopping Service work?

The new Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) program was created by Google to help diversify the search results for Product Listing Ads (PLA). A CSS partner can facilitate the publication of a PLA on Google and is then the link between the advertiser (the retailer) and Google.

Unlike competitors, Klarna’s CSS provides PLA hosting for a small flat monthly fee. Klarna claims that its CSS program can help retailers to save up to 20 per cent on their Cost Per Click spend by avoiding a fee charged by Google CSS.

Besides, the company will also list a retailer’s product listing inventory on the Klarna comparison shopping web pages to further boost retailer product visibility and customer reach. 

Speaking on the development, David Sandstrom, CMO at Klarna, says, “We are extremely excited to launch the Klarna Comparison Shopping Service today. With this new product, we enable retailers to list their Google Product Listings Ads more efficiently. Concretely, this means that we offer retailers a more effective and cheaper way to increase their customer reach and convert highly relevant traffic from consumers who are searching for products they want to purchase, thereby maximising merchants’ return on advertising spend.”

He further added, “As a growth partner for our retailers, we are thrilled to be launching even more products and services to support their strategy in the near future.”

The new Comparison Shopping Service is available in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Everything about Klarna

The company was founded in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski. It is an e-commerce payment solutions platform for merchants and shoppers. Additionally it is also a regulated bank known for its “buy now, pay later” model – offers shoppers interest-free financing on retail purchases over a period of instalments.

Besides, Klarna also offers its consumers to browse and shop from any brand online with Klarna payment options, track spending and available balances, add favourite items to wishlists, access tailored discounts, receive price-drop notifications, track deliveries, and join Klarna’s new loyalty programme, Vibe.

Currently, the company employs more than 4,000 employees globally. Its app is being used by 18 million consumers globally and by over 250,000 retailers from around the world. Some of its retail partners include giants such as H&M, IKEA, Expedia Group, Samsung, ASOS, Peloton, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, and AliExpress.

The company has witnessed that its services are resonating with customers as the company generated $18.9B in Gross Merchandise Value in Q1 2021 as compared to $9.9B in Q1 2020.

Last year in 2020, the Klarna app claims to be consistently ranked among the Top 10 app downloads in the US and this momentum continues as downloads in 2021 have increased 125 per cent year on year, propelling record volumes in March 2021.

The company is backed by prolific investors such as Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, Bestseller Group, Dragoneer, Permira, Visa, Ant Group, and Atomico, among others. It is also backed by celebrity investors such as rapper and artist Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, and A$AP Rocky.