Klarna Debuts Virtual Shopping With In-Store Experts

Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna has launched a virtual shopping tool, allowing consumers to shop online with the help of in-store experts.

“By using the new merchant-facing Klarna Store App, in-store teams can share photos and videos of items and demo products live directly from the store floor, from home, or even from emerging dark store concepts,” the company said in a news release Thursday (May 12). “This in turn drives brand engagement and loyalty while reducing return rates.”

Klarna says this launch builds on its acquisition last year of Hero, a New York and London-based social shopping platform.

Read more: Klarna Acquires HERO To Enhance Social Shopping

As PYMNTS reported at the time, the acquisition lets in-store teams become contact creators and offer information in real time about their merchandise.

With the new virtual shopping tool, consumers connect with an in-store expert by clicking the Virtual Shopping icon on participating retailers’ websites. From there, they can chat, receive photos and videos, follow product recommendations, and have a two-way video chat, mimicking the experience they would receive in-store.

“With virtual shopping, we replicate the brick-and-mortar experience of receiving personalized advice from an in-store expert and bring it to the online realm,” said Klarna Chief Marketing Officer David Sandström. “This will empower our partnered retailers around the world to bring their online stores to life and build customer relationships that last.”

Klarna says virtual shopping is launching in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, France, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Sweden, with more markets planned for later in the year. Participating brands include Levi’s, Hugo Boss and Herman Miller.

See also: Klarna Adds Financial Statement Feature to App

The launch follows last week’s debut of a financial statement feature on the Klarna app which provides Dutch consumers with insight into their spending.

A company survey showed nearly 70% of people in the Netherlands are interested in personal finance – but only around half have their finances well organized. The same study found that about a quarter of Dutch consumers lacks a detailed insight into their spending, and 28% don’t have any spending categorized for the prior month.