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Klarna. Lloyds Banking Group. LTK. Nepa. PayPal. Savanta. Snap Inc. Toluna. The Retail Technology Show. YouGov.

Klarna. PYMNTS.com. SoFi. The Motley Fool.

Example: Klarna. 鈥淗istorically, we鈥檝e connected merchants and consumers through our payments and ecommerce services,鈥� said David Sandstrom, chief marketing officer at the payments company. 鈥淏ut we have so much data that we can now connect them through advertising as well.鈥�. Klarna will have 42.8 million US users this year, nearly a fifth (19.3%) of all digital buyers, per our forecast.

Klarna. SaleCycle. Sapio Research. Software Advice. Toluna.

Klarna. Payment Systems Regulator. PwC. Transact Payments Limited. Venmo.

Many financial apps, including Klarna, Revolut, PayPal, and a few others (e.g., X, the platform formerly known as Twitter), hope to become super apps. If they succeed in establishing full-service financial portals, consumers will likely spend more time in them, monitoring finances or even shopping marketplaces.

In 2022, affiliate marketers鈥� interest started to rise in BNPL providers such as Klarna. In 2023, that interest is spiking, thanks in part to US consumers鈥� continued embrace of the technology: Nearly three in 10 US adults will use a BNPL service in 2023, up from less than 1% five years ago.

As more apps explore chatbots or pursue super app strategies, like Klarna and X are, they鈥檒l introduce more shopping-related ads. But a couple of pieces need to be in place: the successful introduction of a marketplace, and consumers who use the site for browsing. Premium chatbots, such as Snap鈥檚 My AI, also could help in ad targeting and delivery.

Klarna. Motorway. OnePoll. Oxfam. PayPal. Similarweb. Toluna. Unidays.

Klarna. LocalCircles. Ninja Van. NTTCom Research. Seoul Metropolitan Government. The Korea Bizwire.

Klarna: The buy now, pay later company expanded its Ads Manager to the UK and Sweden, but Klarna has been fairly quiet on the retail media front. It risks being overshadowed by other payments companies entering the RMN game. This was originally featured in the 蘑菇AV Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.

Affirm notched three sequential quarters of profitability while Sezzle reported five, and Klarna posted a profit for the first time since 2019. Much of that profit didn鈥檛 come directly from BNPL transactions. For multiple quarters, Klarna cited merchant services鈥攚hich includes things like advertising鈥攁s its fastest-growing revenue stream.

But Klarna knows it needs to get its finances in better shape: It laid off 10% of staff, about 700 people, in May. Klarna raised money, but its valuation plummeted. Klarna raised $800 million at a $6.7 billion valuation in July, a sharp drop from the $46 billion high it reached in June 2021.

Klarna and Affirm already offer super apps, and we also expect Afterpay to lean into the model. Super apps follow a lead-generation business model, driving more users to a provider鈥檚 BNPL services and merchants鈥� offerings鈥攁nd then monetizing that traffic through affiliate fees.

Apple鈥檚 BNPL debut may worry incumbent providers like Affirm and Klarna, which have yet to turn a profit. Tumbling valuations have rocked the industry. BNPL firms like Klarna and Affirm have seen their valuations slide as market volatility rattles the tech sector.

Just last week, we wrote about how Klarna is leaning into affiliate marketing revenues to boost profits. And it worked: Klarna achieved profitability in May鈥攊ts first month of profit since August 2020, per its H1 2023 results. Like Klarna, Affirm is also hoping to diversify its revenues, but it鈥檚 just taking a different strategy by banking on subscription revenues and the Affirm Card. Will it work?

Klarna. KPMG. Mastercard. Mollie. NTT DATA. Opinium. PwC. PYMTS.com. Storyblok. Tink. Toluna. Yapily. YouGov. ZIPZERO.

Affirm recently partnered with an eyewear retailer, for example, and Klarna partnered with a B2B car-rental company. Greater acceptance. BNPL debit cards and partnerships like Affirm鈥檚 with Walmart have made it easier to use BNPL in stores. What鈥檚 next? All of these drivers will boost BNPL鈥檚 growth throughout 2024.

Klarna. Buy now, pay later firm Klarna suffered a cybersecurity incident in May 2021. But the event resulted from an internal mistake, not an external attack, that let users log in to each other鈥檚 accounts. Klarna responded by fixing the visibility of the affected data within 31 minutes. It was forced to temporarily shut down its service as it fixed the technical problem.

But Splitit is not alone in targeting the in-store BNPL market: Klarna and Afterpay also have offerings. That could make it harder for the firm to stand out as industry leaders also turn from ecommerce to brick-and-mortar shopping. This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Payments Innovation Briefing鈥攁 daily recap of top stories reshaping the payments industry.