Klarna expands in Europe

Klarna and Douglas have expanded their payments partnership to Spain and Italy, adding Klarna’s installment checkout to Douglas shoppers in two more European markets. (klarna.com) The companies announced the move on April 9 in Milan and said customers in Spain and Italy can now use Klarna at Douglas checkout, including interest-free installment options. (klarna.com) Douglas said the rollout builds on an existing relationship in other European countries. The retailer describes itself as Europe’s top omnichannel premium beauty chain, with about 1,850 stores and e-commerce operations. (klarna.com) (douglas.group) Buy now, pay later lets shoppers split a purchase into smaller payments instead of paying the full amount upfront. The model has spread across European retail as merchants use it to reduce checkout friction and try to lift conversion and average order values. (sec.gov) Klarna is pushing that model with scale. In its United States filing for a proposed share sale, the company said it had about 93 million active consumers, more than 675,000 merchants and operations in 26 countries as of December 31, 2024. (sec.gov) Southern Europe has become one of Klarna’s faster-growing regions. In a May 2025 update, Klarna said transaction margin dollars in Southern Europe were up fivefold year over year in the first quarter, that one in 10 Italians were active Klarna users, and that it had partnerships with 40 of Spain’s top 100 merchants. (klarna.com) The timing also overlaps with tighter European rules for short-term consumer credit. The European Commission says the revised Consumer Credit Directive, adopted in 2023, explicitly extends to some buy now, pay later products that had sat outside older rules. (commission.europa.eu) European Union countries had until November 20, 2025, to transpose those rules into national law, with application from November 20, 2026. That leaves retailers and lenders expanding now while the legal framework is still being finalized market by market. (commission.europa.eu) (loyensloeff.com) Spain is already moving toward closer oversight of consumer lenders, including fintech groups. Banco de España says it maintains the country’s financial regulation database, and legal analyses published in 2026 say proposed Spanish reforms would hit buy now, pay later providers directly. (bde.es) (bakermckenzie.com) For Douglas, the expansion adds another checkout tool in a region where beauty spending is still attracting heavy competition online and in stores. For Klarna, it is another test of whether installment payments can keep driving merchant sign-ups in Europe as regulators demand more disclosure and affordability checks. (douglas.group) (commission.europa.eu)