The instalments solutions war is heating up with PayPal bringing its Klarna-competing buy now, pay later service to the UK.
We reported how PayPal first announced and launched its Pay in 4 service in September. At the time, the service was only available in the US.
The UK launch will see customers enjoy the option to pay for their goods in a three instalments, making PayOak rebrand the offering to Pay in 3 in the UK.
The launch has been interpreted by market stakeholders as PayPal positioning itself against Europe’s most valuable FinTech company Klarna and Australian AfterPay, both of which offer buy now, pay later services.
“What we’ve seen over last six months or so is a significant rise in the shift from physical to digital transactions across the whole of the UK retail base,” Rob Harper, PayPal’s UK director of enterprise accounts, told CNBC.
“We’ve also seen the rise of buy now, pay later solutions in the market; brands like Klarna, but also smaller brands that are entering into the market that are not as recognizable as PayPal.”
Klarna became Europe’s most valuable privately-owned FinTech company in September after picking up a $650m investment round, which pushed its valuation north of the $10.65bn mark.
Apart from Klarna, PayPal will also have to fight off Afterpay. The Australian company entered the European market in August on the back of it acquiring Pagantis, a company that offers payment services for e-commerce merchants across Spain, France and Italy.
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