Klarna thrives under lockdown

The ‘buy now pay later’ Swedish fintech has recently seen the biggest transaction traffic from generation X.

Klarna is live in 17 countries across the world, has 85 million users worldwide, with 8.5m active consumers in the UK. The fintech has seen great results even during the lockdown.

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The following numbers reflect which categories have seen the biggest boom: 105% increase in the number of running shoes purchased using Klarna’s services, a 60% hike in beauty product sales, and “significant uplift” in purchases of bicycles and cycling accessories. 

Also, home and garden purchases went up 196 percent as more and more people turned to gardening to pass the time in quarantine. 

Alex Marsh, senior analytics director at Klarna UK told AltFi: “Our customer base has really broadened out over the last year but, under lockdown, our biggest transaction numbers actually come from Gen X, which is 40 to 54-year olds.”

“Normally, our average customer is a millennial, or a Gen Y, in their 20s, but our average consumer age is now 33,” he added.

Marsh also said that Klarna is slowing down some plans, making sure that the fintech “has a clear view of the health of the economy, local job security, income and how that translates into people’s shopping habits,” before entering new markets or launching new products.

In a recent survey, Klarna found out that over two thirds (67 %) of shoppers use the service to help manage their finances and spread the cost of more expensive purchases, and almost half (49 %) used the ‘try before you buy’ for convenience.

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