The addition of a price comparison option for budget-conscious consumers has bolstered Klarna’s efforts to develop an all-purpose shopping application.
The new tool analyses pricing across tens of thousands of merchants and allows buyers to narrow their search by colour, size, features, customer reviews, store availability, and shipping.
According to the company, the search and comparison engine offers customers with a viable alternative to Google or Amazon as a starting point for their online buying excursions and enables Klarna to generate a new income stream. The product is based on Klarna’s greatest purchase to date, PriceRunner, which was acquired last year.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, cofounder and CEO, Klarna, says: “You could spend the whole day comparing offers at conventional search engines or marketplaces, but you’ll always have doubts – have I really found the best product at the best price? Klarna’s new search and compare tool does the hard work for consumers and compares thousands of websites in real time to ensure they have all the information they need to make informed and confident purchase decisions.”
The programme sorts product results by price, allowing buyers to quickly locate the greatest bargains for each product. When consumers are viewing a product page, the price comparison engine will indicate if other stores offer a lower price or provide product ratings. A pop-up window will automatically search for and apply available discounts to further lower the price of the customer’s selected items at checkout.
The search and compare feature is now accessible to Klarna App customers in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark, just in time for the Black Friday buying frenzy.
Klarna’s goal, according to Siemiatkowski, is to transform from a payment network into a single location where customers can complete their full shopping process, “from product discovery through delivery tracking, digital receipts, and seamless returns.”
In August, Klarna expanded its app to enable UK users to examine their entire online shopping history through a single dashboard, offering an inventory of their purchase history and product specifics, such as photographs and pricing, order and delivery status, parcel location, and pickup information.
