Sustainability is at the core of any brand that aspires to be relevant in the future. Not only from an environmental point of view, but also when it comes to values, business practices, and social responsibility. In a recent Swedish survey, 1500 Millenial and Gen Z consumers have been asked about their views on sustainability, and which brands that best live up to their expectations in this area.
273 companies in 20 different sectors are ranked in order of how sustainable they are in the eyes of the consumers. We are happy to see that Klarna, for the second year in a row, is number one in the banking and finance category, ahead of all the traditional banks and financial institutions. This is a testament to the fact that the younger generations see Klarna as the most sustainable brand in an industry that for a long time has been dominated by the incumbent players.
The survey shows that transparency, and having products and services that are priced according to consumers’ different financial needs, are highly valued aspects of a sustainable brand. At Klarna, we are working actively to provide a service that is transparent and adapted to consumers’ needs. Here are just a few examples of how we help our customers:
- With the Klarna app, consumers can manage all their purchases and get push notifications when a payment is due. In the app, shoppers can also keep track of deliveries and manage returns. By paying with our free 14-day invoice, consumers can be assured that they get the products they order before any money is drawn from their bank account.
- We are doing everything in our power to make consumers pay on time. Our recently launched “Never forget test” is an additional way of educating consumers on how to avoid reminder fees. By completing the test, Klarna will waive the reminder fee to consumers who have missed the due date on a payment, to ensure that it won’t happen again.
- Our savings accounts with some of the highest interest rates in Sweden.
- The “Mission Zero” (Nollmissionen) which is a long-term commitment to reduce the number of customer complaints on our services to zero. Since the launch, we have managed to reduce them from 40 complaints per 1 million purchases in 2018, to less than 20 on average in 2020. We have taken a lot of actions to achieve this, but we are not happy until we have reached our final goal.
Apart from our services, we are also working hard to reduce our environmental impact as a company. Last year, Klarna won the “Breakit Impact Challenge” for our initiatives in this area.
The hard work to become even more sustainable continues, but the ranking shows that we are on the right track.