Klarna, the payment and shopping platform, today announced new features and updates that aim to give users a more personalized shopping experience.
This includes “Ask Klarna”, a personal shopping assistant where users can talk to real fashion experts; “Creator Shops”, a custom store for content creators; an AI-powered discovery shopping feed; and a resale functionality, among other new tools.
The suite of new features, which are rolling out in select regions including the US, UK and Germany, comes as the Swedish fintech company continues to shift its focus from just being a buy now, pay later platform. and more to become a general shopping platform. destination for its 150 million users.
Separately, Klarna has also released a redesigned interface for its app. The Klarna app will now have new tabs: Shop, Shopping, In-Store, Quote and You. The company hopes the update will help consumers discover new products and manage their purchase history more efficiently.
“Over the past 18 years, we have transformed into a global shopping destination with smart tools for consumers around the world,” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. “The new tools we are launching today will create richer and more enjoyable experiences for everyone throughout the shopping journey and create tremendous opportunities for retailers to grow their business.”
With Ask Klarna, the company has recruited a group of trained shopping experts to help consumers with their purchases via chat or video call within Klarna.com and the Klarna mobile app. Klarna personal shoppers can offer advice and information about products from thousands of brands and shops.
The feature uses technology from the HERO social shopping platform, which Klarna acquired in 2021, to provide product reviews, real-time advice, and informative content to its users.
according to a recent Klarna survey, 85% of US respondents said they want a service where they can talk to product experts to learn more about products. The company has also noticed that consumers are less confident when it comes to buying more expensive items online, Klarna’s chief marketing officer David Sandstrom told TechCrunch.
“When people buy big-ticket items, there’s still uncertainty about doing it digitally,” Sandstrom said. “If you want to buy a luxury bag, especially if it’s not for you, there just isn’t enough confidence in that purchase. You want to talk to someone.
Ask Klarna is currently limited to luxury fashion items, but will soon expand to other more expensive items such as TVs, smartphones, drones and other electronics.
“Any type of expensive item where we see consumer confidence lacking. That is where we want to insert this feature,” added Sandstrom.
It should be noted that the new personal shopper service is completely free for users. Plus, you don’t have to be in the top 1% spender to qualify for the service, which Sandstrom says other fashion companies are doing with their online shopping assistants.
At the moment, the company has no plans to monetize, at least not yet, that is.
“The business model is likely to evolve in the future, depending on how popular it is… We’ll see where this takes us,” Sandstrom told us.
At launch, Ask Klarna is only available to US users. It will launch in the UK and Germany later this year.
Last month, Klarna announced its new ChatGPT plugin, which also offers product recommendations to users. So whether you want to ask a human or the OpenAI chatbot if spending thousands of dollars on a trendy designer bag is worth it, Klarna now lets you do both.
Speaking of AI, the company has found another way to integrate the technology into its platform. Klarna has a new AI-powered, personalized discovery shopping feed to help consumers find items that are most relevant to them based on their preferences.
“Our new AI-powered discovery shopping feed is the next evolution of the Klarna app that becomes the starting point for every purchase. This builds on a lot of initiatives we’re working on in the AI space, to bring a higher level of personalization to consumers than was previously thought impossible,” added Siemiatkowski.
The revamped feed will still have the recently launched search and compare tool at the top of the screen, so users can keep looking for what’s on sale, what’s the lowest price, shipping options, and what’s in stock. .
Along with the search and compare tool, Klarna also launched its creator app last year to help influencers connect with brands. The app also allowed content creators to track their performance, earnings, and sales.
There are currently 12,000 vetted creators on the platform, according to Sandstrom.
The company is now allowing creators to launch their own storefronts on Klarna.com, so their followers can click through to the store, watch their shopping videos, and buy recommended products.
Similar to Influencer Shopping App LTKKlarna’s new Creator Shops feature also allows creators to share their personal shop on their social media accounts, as well as post content that includes links to each item in the photo or video, which in turn increases your chances. of earning income.
“The Klarna Creator platform has opened up a whole new world of opportunities when it comes to affiliate content,” content creator Lydia Tomlinson said in a statement. “With my new Creator Shop, I have the perfect place to showcase everything I’m wearing, wearing and loving. Now my followers can easily find and shop my latest looks in one place, saving them the hassle of wondering where to shop.”
The Creator Stores are only available on Klarna.com, but will soon be launched in the Klarna app. The feature has yet to launch in the US, but has been rolled out to creators in the UK, Sweden, and Germany.
If you have clothes that have been sitting in your closet untouched, Klarna offers to help speed up the resale process, but only if you used Klarna to buy it. The company is introducing a resell feature that allows Klarna buyers to resell products they no longer want.
In the Klarna app, users can tap the “Resell” button next to an item from their order history. Users are then directed to a third-party re-trading platform. Klarna pre-populates the listing with product details, description and images, which can often be time consuming. Users can set the price of the item.
The reselling feature launched earlier this year and is currently only available to Swedish users. Klarna has partnered with the Tradera reselling platform and will launch soon with more partners around the world.
Later this year, Resell will roll out to the US, UK and Germany.
Klarna also further helps brands with ad creation, audience targeting, and campaign optimization. Ads Manager is a newly launched platform for retailers that allows them to access Klarna’s own data and target the right shoppers.
Merchants can post ads directly to Klarna’s personalized shopping feed.
There are around 450,000 brands on the platform, including Steve Madden, Nike, Lululemon, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, and more.
—————————————————-
Source link