Consumers Shift Buy Now, Pay Later E-commerce Spending Away From Apparel and Footwear and Toward Health & Beauty and Leisure Categories

As Coronavirus Outbreak Continues, New Data from Klarna Also Reveal Gen Zers, Millennials and Gen Xers Are Turning to Marketplaces When Shopping Online

Klarna, a leading global payments and shopping provider, released new data that indicate consumers in the US are shifting their e-commerce spending away from apparel, footwear and accessories and toward health and beauty and leisure items as the COVID-19 outbreak continues. The company analyzed all transactions made through the Klarna app, which allows consumers to shop from any online store, to identify what product categories Gen Zers, millennials and Gen Xers are shopping for most often using Klarna’s flexible payment options.

The data also revealed that Klarna’s buy now, pay later options are more popular than ever, especially for purchases made on marketplace sites. The company had 1.1 million monthly active app users in the US in March and more monthly active app users in the first quarter of 2020 than in the fourth quarter of 2019, when Black Friday and the holidays typically prompt a huge surge in shopping. In addition, the number of Klarna app daily active users hit a year-to-date high on Thursday, April 2.

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“The interesting thing our data uncovered this week is that consumers are focusing less on clothing, shoes and accessories and more on health and beauty and leisure categories,” said Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski. “For retailers and brands, this week’s data may indicate that shoppers are choosing to buy items such as skincare and things like jigsaw puzzles and craft materials, now that they have already purchased the comfortable clothes they need to get through this work-from-home period. Our data also show that consumers are more interested than ever in using payment options that give them more flexibility and control over their finances during these uncertain times.”

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To identify how consumer behavior is changing in the US due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Klarna looked at purchases made through the Klarna app, which enables consumers to shop from any online store. Klarna broke out purchases into seven major categories and then analyzed how Klarna app users in three age groups have shifted their share of wallet among those categories over time.

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