Walmart and Klarna To Offer BNPL Service for Purchases

Flexible payment options are coming to a Walmart near you. Klarna and finance app OnePay are partnering to provide installment loans for Walmart customers.

With this collaboration, Walmart customers will be able to choose to pay for purchases over time. The short-term loan program is slated for full integration with Walmart’s checkout system by the 2025 holiday shopping season, if not sooner.

“This is a game changer,” said Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, per Reuters. “We look forward to helping redefine checkout at the world’s largest retailer — both online and in stores.”

Approved customers will get repayment terms as short as three months and as long as three years. Interest rates will reportedly vary from 10% to 36%.

Once the program goes live, Klarna will review applications and approve the loans. Through the OnePay app, which is majority owned by Walmart, customers can keep track of loan accounts.

Klarna Will Get Access to Millions of Walmart Customers

Unlike credit cards, which need good credit and take time to be approved, Klarna’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) service allows a buyer to get accepted, select payment options, and finalize a purchase in just a few minutes. As such, large retailers have been clamoring to make deals with BNPL companies.

While not confirmed, it appears the new deal includes OnePay being able to take a major financial stake in the BNPL fintech. Purportedly, OnePay will be allowed to purchase about 15 million shares of Klarna once the agreement is finalized.

“Millions of people in the U.S. shop at Walmart every day — and now they can shop smarter with OnePay installment loans powered by Klarna,” said Siemiatkowski, according to CNBC. “We look forward to helping redefine checkout at the world’s largest retailer — both online and in stores.”

With an annual revenue of around $200 million, OnePay currently has over 3 million active customers. Partnering with the BNPL firm likely indicates that OnePay is looking for an experienced company with the capability of scaling up quickly once Walmart shoppers start seeing loan options at checkout.

Klarna couldn’t ask for better timing for the Walmart partnership. Currently valued at around $15 billion, Klarna is gearing up for an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S.