Klarna partners with fellow fintech Adyen to bring buy now, pay later into physical stores

Swedish firm Klarna is partnering up with Dutch payments fintech Adyen to bring its popular buy now, pay later service into physical retail stores.

The company said Thursday that it had entered into an agreement with Adyen to add its payments products as an option at physical payment machines used by the Amsterdam-based fintech's merchant partners.

Klarna will be included as an option across more than 450,000 Adyen payment terminals in brick-and-mortar locations as a result of the deal, according to the companies. The partnership will initially launch in Europe, North America and Australia with a wider rollout planned later down the line.

Klarna's buy now, pay later, or BNPL, service allows users to spread the cost of their purchases over a period of interest-free installments. The service is mostly associated with online shopping, which currently accounts for about 5% of the global e-commerce market, according to Klarna.

Targeting consumers in-store has become an increasingly important priority as Klarna and other firms in the sector such as Block's Afterpay, Affirm, Zip, Sezzle, and Zilch seek to expand their reach.

The move expands on a previous arrangement Klarna had in place with Adyen on e-commerce payments.

"We want consumers to be able to pay with Klarna at any checkout, anywhere," David Sykes, chief commercial officer at Klarna, said in a statement Thursday.

"Our strong partnership with Adyen gives a massive boost to our ambition to bring flexible payments to the high street in a new way."

Adyen's head of EMEA, Alexa von Bismarck, said the deal was about giving consumers flexibility at checkout, adding that "consumers care deeply about the in-store touch point and value brands which can allow them to pay how they want."

Earlier this year, Klarna sold Klarna Checkout, the company's online checkout solution for merchants. This saw the firm compete less directly with payment gateways including the likes of Adyen, Stripe, and Checkout.com.

Klarna's deal with Adyen comes as the Swedish tech giant is exploring a much-anticipated initial public offering.

Klarna hasn't yet set a fixed timeline on when it expects to go public, however the firm's CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC earlier this year that a 2024 IPO for the business wouldn't be "impossible."

In August, Klarna began rolling out a checking account-like product, called Klarna balance, as well as cashback rewards in a bid to convince consumers to move more of their financial lives over to its platform.

BNPL has faced criticisms from consumer rights campaigners, however, over fears it promotes the idea of consumers spending more than they can afford. Regulators are pushing for rules to bring the nascent — but fast-growing — payment method into regulation.

The recently elected U.K. Labour government is expected to set out plans for buy now, pay later regulation soon.

City Minister Tulip Siddiq said in July that the government would establish new proposals "shortly" after multiples delays to the previous Conservative government's regulation plans for BNPL.