Klarna acquires APPRL to take advantage of social commerce

APPRL allows retailers to connect directly to relevant content creators to create social shopping content and track campaign results

Klarna has expanded its retailer marketing services with the acquisition of Stockholm-based marketing software provider APPRL.

The bank is actively building its suite of tools for 250,000+ retail partners. These include a comparison shopping service, an AI-driven styling engine and content creation platform, and most recently, HERO, a conversational commerce company.

Klarna says its latest acquisition, APPRL, will further enhance its marketing services by allowing retailers to connect directly to relevant content creators to create social shopping content and track campaign results.

Social commerce is becoming big business, according to research collated by Klarna. The Stockholm-headquartered bank, which claims to have 90 million active users across its global payments and shopping service, is keen to capture a share of a market that is expected to account for $84 billion of US retail sales by 2024.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, chief executive officer of Klarna, comments: “As social shopping becomes a core element of the retail experience, we believe Klarna’s position at the centre of the shopping ecosystem is instrumental in connecting retailers to both consumers and content creators who resonate with their brand audiences.”

“By adding APPRL to Klarna’s existing retailer support expertise, we see a huge opportunity to create an enriching and informative shopping experience for consumers everywhere while accelerating retailer growth.”

Martin Landén, chief executive officer of APPRL, says: “We are incredibly excited to join Klarna on its impressive journey and bold mission ahead. As retailers continue to embrace influencer marketing as their growth engine, with an increasing focus on ROI, data and automation, APPRL has been seeing an exponential increase in demand.”

“With APPRL’s platform together with Klarna’s scale, incredible talent and portfolio of marketing services, we will be able to offer retailers an end-to-end influencer and performance marketing solution that they won’t be able to find anywhere else.”

Image: Shutterstock

Mark Dugdale