As the holiday shopping season approaches, shoppers are returning to stores in droves, and when they do, they want the same conveniences they experience online. Klarna’s 2021 Holidays Unwrapped Report surveyed over 24,000 US shoppers and found 80% of shoppers expect a seamless omnichannel experience, particularly when it comes to the checkout process.
As for where people want to visit, malls are making a major resurgence—especially with younger shoppers. Our research discovered that 44% of Gen Z will hit up the mall for their holiday shopping, with Millennials close behind them at 38%, making them the most likely generations to do so.
To better enhance the mall shopping experience for those younger shoppers—and for everyone everywhere—Klarna has recently struck new partnerships with two of the largest mall operators in the country, Simon, and Macerich. 75% of Gen Z and Millennials already use buy-now-pay-later services like Klarna. These partnerships will bring even more traffic to malls and retailers as those highly sought-after shoppers seek stores offering flexible payment options during the holiday shopping season. These partnerships help bring together Klarna’s massive 20 million users with the vast in-store bases of Simon and Macerich.
The partnerships include in-store payment solutions for shoppers to take advantage of in the malls, including at stores like Macy’s, Sephora, Foot Locker, The North Face, and more. Klarna is bringing innovative performance-based digital marketing capabilities for retailers and their mall partners, collaborating on marketing campaigns, in-mall activations, and communication programs to raise awareness with shoppers.
With the majority of shoppers wanting flexible payment options for their holiday purchases, these new partnerships will help bring in more foot traffic to malls and retailers as people know they can pay in ways convenient for them and their budgets. Partnering with Simon and Macerich is another way Klarna makes shopping more accessible and beneficial for consumers and helps drive more traffic to retailers. And for shoppers used to checking out digitally, knowing they can use Klarna at the in-person register makes their purchase experience easier and more appealing.