Klarna expanded its Tap to Pay functionality to iPhones and Android devices across 14 European markets in December 2025, making its buy-now-pay-later and flexible payment options available at physical retail checkout terminals for the first time at scale across the continent. The rollout marks a significant step in the Swedish payments company's effort to move beyond e-commerce and embed its products into in-store consumer spending.
Consumers in the markets covered by the launch will be able to tap their smartphones at compatible point-of-sale terminals to access Klarna's range of payment structures — including instalment plans — in the same way they would use a contactless debit or credit card. The feature removes the need for merchants to integrate Klarna directly into their payment systems, broadening the number of physical locations where Klarna can be used.
BUILDING ON THE ADYEN PARTNERSHIP
The European in-store push builds on a partnership with Adyen, the Dutch payments infrastructure group, which Klarna announced in September 2024. That collaboration laid the groundwork for in-store acceptance by enabling Klarna's payment methods to run over Adyen's network of physical terminals, which are deployed widely across European retail. The December 2025 Tap to Pay expansion takes the integration further by extending the user-facing interface to include native smartphone tap functionality on both iOS and Android platforms.
The distinction matters commercially. Enabling consumers to pay through their existing smartphone wallet interface — rather than requiring a separate card or a specific merchant integration — lowers the friction that has historically limited buy-now-pay-later penetration in physical retail. E-commerce has been the dominant channel for BNPL because the checkout flow is easily modified to include instalment options; replicating that ease in a physical store environment has been a persistent challenge for the sector.
Klarna has been among the most active BNPL operators in attempting to bridge that gap. Its in-store strategy reflects a broader ambition to position Klarna not as a niche online payment tool but as a full-service payment method that follows consumers across every channel where they spend money.
PROFITABILITY AND MARKET EXPANSION
The European expansion follows a period of sustained profitability for Klarna, which maintained positive quarterly earnings through 2024 and into 2025. That financial performance has provided the company with the resources and investor confidence needed to pursue product investments of the scale represented by a 14-market simultaneous rollout.
European regulators have paid increasing attention to BNPL products over recent years, with several jurisdictions moving to bring instalment credit under formal consumer credit frameworks. Klarna has engaged with regulatory processes across the markets where it operates, and its in-store expansion will be subject to the consumer credit and payment services rules applicable in each of the 14 countries included in the launch.
The 14 markets covered by the Tap to Pay rollout were not individually itemised in the announcement reviewed by this publication, but the expansion is understood to include Klarna's principal European operating markets. The company's headquarters remain in Stockholm, and Europe continues to represent a core part of its global customer base alongside the United States and Australia.