Klarna has partnered with British department store Liberty to add its flexible and interest-free payment options to the online store.
This partnership aims to help Liberty customers save time and money when making high-end purchases by using the Swedish FinTech company’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) option, Klarna said in a Tuesday (July 25) press release.
“We are proud to partner with London’s iconic Liberty to offer flexible, convenient payments to shoppers looking to purchase high-end items online,” Raji Behal, head of Western and Southern Europe at Klarna, said in the release.
Klarna encourages consumers to consider the impact of their shopping habits on the environment, and half of luxury shoppers in the U.K. claim their high-end goods purchases are more sustainable, according to the press release. There is also a belief that buying quality items can save money in the long run, as 46% of luxury shoppers feel their items save them money.
“We are seeing consumers of all ages and incomes … recognizing the environmental benefits of ‘buy it for life’ with high quality products in a classic style that will look good for years to come,” Behal said in the release. “Our interest-free BNPL products empower consumers to manage finances better, making informed choices that benefit both their wallet and the planet.”
PYMNTS research has found that 56% of luxury store and specialty boutique shoppers are “highly interested” in using BNPL for online purchases.
The survey also found that 46% of department store customers would switch to another retailer if their preferred store didn’t offer installment payments, according to “BNPL and the In-Store Opportunity: Why Merchants Must Offer Payment Flexibility at the POS,” a PYMNTS and Zip collaboration.
In other recent news from Klarna, the app recently added new products geared toward environmentally conscious shoppers, including a top-up donations feature that lets consumers add a $1 donation to purchases and a carbon footprint tracking tool that provides insights into the impact of products within the home and garden and jewelry/accessories categories.
A group of investors led by Elon Musk reportedly submitted a bid to OpenAI’s board of directors Monday (Feb. 10) to buy the nonprofit that controls the company for $97.4 billion.
The unsolicited offer was submitted by Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday.
“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement provided to WSJ by Toberoff, per the report. “We will make sure that happens.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a Monday post on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” referring to the Musk-owned X by its former name and offering one-tenth the price the group offered for the OpenAI nonprofit.
Musk and Altman are already engaged in a court battle over the future of OpenAI, which they co-founded as a charity in 2015, according to the WSJ report.
After Musk left the company and Altman became CEO, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary that has enabled it to raise money from Microsoft and other investors, the report said.
Now, Altman is turning the subsidiary into a traditional company and spinning out the nonprofit, which would own a stake in the for-profit firm, per the report.
Musk’s bid sets a high valuation on the nonprofit and could mean that the operator of the nonprofit would have a large and possibly controlling stake in the for-profit firm, the report said.
Toberoff told WSJ that the investor group will match or exceed any higher bids offered for the nonprofit, per the report.
It was reported Feb. 4 that Musk’s suit against OpenAI might proceed to trial, as a judge said parts of the case can move forward.
“Something is going to trial in this case,” U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said. “[Elon Musk will] sit on the stand, present it to a jury, and a jury will decide who is right.”
Musk has argued that OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit company goes against its original mission, while OpenAI has countered that the switch is necessary to help it land the type of investments it needs to develop the best AI models.