Klarna has signed an agreement to buy PriceRunner, which will enable the company to incorporate new features in the form of product reviews, product discovery, and price comparisons.

PriceRunner is a leading comparison shopping service in the Nordic region. It has businesses in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom and compares 3.4 million products from 22,500 retailers in 25 countries.

David Fock, chief product officer at Klarna, said the move demonstrates that the company is not a marketplace but instead a “viable and competitive” alternative for retail partners vs Amazon, Google, and Facebook.

The business, well known for its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service, said that the purchase would also give its retail partners better behaviour insight, higher website traffic, and marketing opportunities.

“At Klarna we constantly strive to make the banking and payments experience the best it can be, empowering consumers from product discovery to paying in a way that suits them,” said David Fock. “The acquisition will serve to strengthen our bank, card and payment services and support a competitive global landscape.”

Last month the FinTech launched a new feature which enables consumers in the UK to pay in full, as well as a number of changes designed to give customers more “clarity and control” over how they pay. Klarna and the wider BNPL market have faced criticism over UK consumers, particularly from younger demographics, racking up debts when using the flexible payment option.

PriceRunner’s chief executive Mikael Lindahl said the team had spent the past five years rebuilding PriceRunner from scratch to develop a “best-in-class” comparison shopping service.

“We see Klarna as the ideal partner to accelerate growth and achieve our long-term vision to become the most loved comparison shopping service in the world,” commented Lindahl.

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