Klarna is bringing its flexible payments into the heart of European high streets with a new Tap to Pay feature across 14 markets , turning the Klarna app into a contactless wallet and making in-store shopping feel more like e-commerce checkout.
For retailers, it is a significant push to blend buy-now-pay-later style flexibility with tap-and-go convenience, where more than 80% of European spending still happens in physical stores. Klarna turns its app into a contactless wallet The new Tap to Pay feature lets
shoppers pay in-store by simply tapping their phone at the terminal, with everything managed inside the Klarna app rather than through a separate wallet. Klarna says the experience is designed to remove friction at the till, replacing card hunting or app juggling with one central place to view, choose, and complete payments.
Using NFC technology, the app acts like a contactless card, but with the added option to set up a flexible payment plan before tapping. Tap to Pay builds directly on the rapid global adoption of the debit-first Klarna Card , which is now used by more than 4 million consumers .
The card runs as a debit by default but allows shoppers to activate credit when needed in the Klarna app, and it is accepted at over 150 million merchant locations worldwide through Visa Flexible Credential , significantly widening where Tap to Pay-style transactions can happen.
How Tap to Pay works in store From a user perspective, the flow is simple and closely mirrors mobile wallet experiences. Shoppers open their Klarna Card inside the app, keep it in debit mode, or choose to create a flexible payment plan, then select Tap to Pay before holding their phone to the terminal. Depending…
