Klarna has acquired 'social shopping' startup Hero, bringing instore retailer expertise to the online shopping experience.
Hero's virtual shopping platform connects millions of shoppers with product experts via text, chat and video, all directly from a brands ecommerce store.
Hero's client roster includes global brands such as Levi, rag & bone, Chloé, Harvey Nichols and shares a number of retail partners with Klarna's existing network such as Nike and JD Sports.
Upon closing, all 100+ Hero employees in New York and London will join Klarna.
David Sandström, chief marketing officer at Klarna says it will introduce Hero to its 250,000 retail partners, with the aim of bringing the best of in-store shopping to the online experience for consumers.
"With Hero, Klarna can support retailers in empowering their in-store colleagues to serve a global audience, enhancing e-commerce with the benefits of physical retail," he says. "Longer term, we see opportunities for Klarna's 90 million global consumers to share their shopping expertise as part of a social shopping ecosystem that defies physical and online boundaries."
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.