Klarna Forms Pre-Holiday Gift Card Pact With Blackhawk Network

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform Klarna is expanding its partnership with gift card company Blackhawk Network (BHN).

The new collaboration, announced in a news release Thursday (Nov. 20), is aimed at offering shoppers greater choice and flexibility for purchasing gift cards ahead of the holidays.

“As we continue to grow rapidly in the U.S., this expanded partnership with BHN gives millions of consumers even more flexibility and control over how they buy and give gifts,” Klarna chief commercial officer David Sykes said.

“Digital gift cards are surging in popularity, and Klarna is meeting consumers where they prefer to shop, making it easier than ever to send the perfect gift with payment options that fit every budget,” he added.

With this partnership, consumers can use Klarna to purchase digital gift cards from more than 350 brands on Giftcards.com. Beyond that hundreds of brands that utilize BHN’s digital gifting platform can now offer Klarna as a payment option within their online gift card stores.

Shoppers can then choose from one of Klarna’s payment options: Pay in Full for a one-time payment; Pay in 4 to divide purchases into four interest-free installments; or Financing for larger gift card purchases.

In other gift card news, PYMNTS wrote earlier this year about the cards’ growing popularity amid the rise of digital wallets.

Mary Bailey, senior product manager for Bank of America’s gift card program, said her company’s research found that 81% of consumers had purchased a gift card in the previous year, which was 6% higher than the year before.

The appeal is growing because “you can now add that physical card to your [digital] wallet, if you want to add it to your Apple Wallet or your Google Wallet,” she said.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote earlier this week about Klarna’s growing “neobank ambitions” after the company reported quarterly results.

During an earnings call CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski described Klarna’s evolution into a full neobank supported by a global retail payments network. His language underlined a model grounded in customer trust and data-rich experiences, while also spotlighting Klarna’s ambition to “give people back time,” “give people back money” and “give back them control.”

“Klarna’s revenue mix now spans merchant fees from its checkout network, interest income from fair financing, card economics via the Klarna Card, and value-added services such as price comparison and package tracking. Its network scale also gives it SKU-level data across a majority of transactions, a differentiator highlighted in earnings,” PYMNTS wrote. “This puts Klarna at the intersection of payments, banking, credit and commerce.”