Christmas is now just a couple of months away, and with the mega commerce event of the year Black Friday in between, payments firms are in a monster 12 weeks of volume and processing.
Ahead of demand ramping up, some are already kicking off new partnerships. Klarna, the Swedish fintech dominating the European buy now, pay later (BNPL) space, has made a move on the UK market for gift cards – a popular gift at Christmas time.
The firm has struck a deal with Blackhawk Network (BHN), a global branded payments provider, to launch its ‘Gift Card Store’ platform. The platform will allow UK consumers to use Klarna to pay for gift cards from merchants like Airbnb, Argos, Fortnite, adidas, IKEA, Playstation, Deliveroo, H&M, Wagamama, Currys and Uber.
This move continues a year of expansion for Klarna, with the company having already established itself as the leading BNPL provider in the UK and much of Europe. Breaking into the £7bn UK gift card market could prove yet another key growth driver for Klarna, which is building up revenue to support its stateside growth ambitions.
“Following the success of Gift Card Store in the US, we are super excited to see its roll out in the UK,” said Raji Behal, Head of Western and Southern Europe at Klarna.
“Gift cards are a staple of gift-giving in the UK and help drive business to retailers large and small. We can’t wait for UK shoppers to discover the convenience of Gift Card Store in the run up to Christmas.”
As Christmas approaches, many consumers often look to Black Friday and Cyber Monday as an opportunity to purchase gifts on sale for family and friends. This rush often results in higher volumes for payments processors, and companies need to ensure they are prepared to meet this demand – some shoppers were left frustrated by an outage at HSBC last year, for example.
According to Checkout.com, the demand could be even greater this year. The digital payments network’s research found that British consumers are planning to expand their Black Friday shopping beyond the usual products of clothing, beauty and electronics.
Increased sales are expected for air travel with 14% of the population planning to buy during peak season 2024, whilst 32% of millennials are looking to take advantage of Black Friday/Cyber Monday streaming service deals, and 16% of the overall consumer-base intend to buy health and wellbeing products. Overall, 50% of UK consumers plan to purchase gifts for partners during the sales.
Rory O’Neill, CMO at Checkout.com, said: “Traditionally Black Friday Cyber Monday deals have been focused on clothing, beauty and electronics. However, with a growing digital economy, we’re seeing this evolve.
“The increase in planned flight spend is fascinating – particularly when it comes to the younger generations, even in an era of conscious consumerism. Travel experiences rate high in priority and they are explored, discovered and made using social platforms.
“This reflects a growing cultural trend when it comes to travel – and how Gen Z takes a social-first approach to planning trips abroad.”
