Klarna Review

Are you in the market for a new gateway provider, or are you starting an online business and want the ability to quickly accept customer payments without hassle? The payment gateway provider Klarna has been making the news recently because of its entrance to the US market with its innovative risk assessment method and a consumer financing option that allows customers to pay over time. Let’s take a look at how it works and see if it’s right for your business.

What is Klarna?

Klarna was founded in 2005 in Stockholm, Sweden by three business school students. The solution was originally launched as a way for customers to receive the goods they wanted and pay their bills later. Klarna still offers an e-commerce solution for consumers that allows them to enjoy first, pay afterwards. However, the company also has a traditional gateway solution for businesses – the payment gateway creates a link between your business and payment processors.

It’s not necessary to offer the buy now, pay later option to use Klarna, but you can enable that if you’d like to give your customers the option. 

Related Article: Options for Taking Credit Cards Online.

Compatible Processors and Platforms

Klarna isn’t tied to a single payment processor. That’s good news for your business. The less good news is that its compatibility is limited to smaller payment processors including North Payments, Smart2Pay, Buckaroo, PAYONE, HiPay Fullservice, Acapture, and Payzoff. Klarna also works with two larger companies: Adyen and Ingenico ePayments.

The company also claims compatibility with ecommerce services and shopping carts, including WooCommerce, OpenCart, and Magento.

Klarna Features

Klarna boasts an easy checkout experience, a single integration, customer risk assessment, continuously optimized user experience, preconfigured modules and plugins, and an API/SDK for developers.

Easy Checkout Experience

How many customers have you lost because your checkout process is too long and cumbersome? Klarna aims to change that. All customers need to do is enter their email address and their shipping details when they order something for the first time. Klarna believes that removing the friction associated with online transactions will increase both conversions and your bottom line.

Customer Financing and Pay Later

The options for buy now, pay later include paying after the purchase has arrived, and paying over time. In both cases, the customer will deal directly with Klarna to pay. If a customer selects the financing option, your business is still paid by Klarna at the time of purchase.

A customer can choose to apply for the Klarna line of credit/financing at the same time as placing an order. Klarna has a short video that shows the joint application and place order process, available here: 

A Single Integration

Klarna boasts that its single integration means fewer headaches for merchants. When you choose this gateway, you have a single supplier, one user agreement, one payout, one source for settlement, and one place to turn to for customer support.

Customer Risk Assessment

How do you know whether a customer is going to pay you? Klarna has developed algorithms to determine whether a customer will make the payment or is likely to default. Customers that seem like a stronger default risk will be forced to enter their payment details after providing their email address and shipping details, while those with stronger credit histories have over three weeks to pay Klarna. The best part is that you get paid no matter what.

Continuously Optimized User Experience

Your customers don’t just use a desktop or laptop anymore to shop online – they’re just as likely to use tablets or smartphones. Klarna’s programmers can customize the iframe to suit your needs and ensure that shoppers have a great experience on your site.

Preconfigured Modules and Plugins

Are you looking for ways to improve the e-commerce experience at your online store? Klarna offers a number of preconfigured modules and plugins, such as shopping carts, digital marketing solutions, and platforms.

API/SDK for Developers

Integrating a payment solution into your e-commerce site can be a pain. Klarna’s API/SDK for developers makes the process easier and faster, so you can start selling sooner.

Security

Klarna’s website doesn’t provide visitors with much information on the security measures it takes to protect its customers. It doesn’t specify whether the gateway is PCI DSS compliant, or which level of certification the gateway solution has received. What might give you peace of mind is that Klarna assumes the risk of customer payments. So, even if Klarna doesn’t receive money from the customer, you will still get paid. Klarna claims that its ability to assume risk enables it to accept a greater number of purchases.

The privacy section on the website notes that Klarna uses computer safeguards, encryption, secured files and physical security measures at its buildings to ensure that unauthorized parties don’t gain access to sensitive and confidential data.