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Klarna’s buy now, pay later payment options are coming to Verifone Inc. point-of-sale devices, Klarna AB announced Tuesday.
This marks the first buy now, pay later option to be available on Verifone POS terminals in the United States and Europe as part of the Verifone Cloud Services platform, Klarna says. Klarna’s three payment options—pay in four installments, pay in 30 days, and financing—will be available at checkout. To use it, customers will select Klarna as the payment option on the Verifone device screen, scan a Quick Response code, and verify their identity.
New and existing customers can use the Klarna service on Verifone devices, a Klarna spokesperson says. “New users can select Klarna at checkout as the payment option on the screen of the Verifone device, scan a QR code, and then verify their identity,” the spokesperson says in an email to Digital Transactions News. “For existing customers who have already made purchases and have Klarna accounts on their mobile devices, their details will be automatically prefilled for an even quicker checkout experience.”
Buy now, pay later options have garnered much attention, with accompanying growth. Stockholm-based Klarna reported in November it gained 1 million customers in a three-week window. And rival Affirm Inc., which offers transactional credit, is readying an initial public offering.
Still, the service is running into roadblocks. Capital One Financial Corp. last week barred its credit cards from being used to fund buy now, pay later transactions, which it called “point-of-sale loans.” Its debit cards and checking accounts can still be used for these transactions. Most consumers tend to use debit cards. Klarna says 80% to 85% of its transactions are made with debit cards.
The Verifone deal reinforces the role of the physical store for a product born out of e-commerce, Klarna says. “We truly believe that there is a role for the physical store within the future retail brand experience, and now more than ever consumers desire flexibility, transparency, and a more convenient payment experience,” Luke Griffiths, Klarna’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement.
Verifone sees the Klarna deal as one that enables alternative payment methods in stores. “Klarna is particularly interesting and unique in that merchants will have access to new, larger revenue opportunities through its flexible payment options, and Klarna comes with simple settlement functionality for the merchant,” Jeremy Belostock, head of alternative payments at San Jose, Calif.-based Verifone.
