Klarna today announced the first group to receive grants from the recently-launched Klarna Small Business Impact Initiative to help SMBs recover from a loss of business due to the pandemic. Recipients will be awarded a portion of $4.5 million in Klarna services, including one year of fee-free payments and $40,000 of free media that extends marketing exposure across Klarna’s ecosystem.
In a recent survey by Klarna’s small business partners, 44% noted the biggest challenge their business faced as a result of COVID-19 was loss of revenue, 36% said the greatest concern facing their business over the next 6 months will be finding new customers, and 48% revealed the area they plan to make the biggest investment in is digital marketing.
“Small businesses were among the hardest hit during the pandemic, facing higher rates of store closures, layoffs, and financial hardships, while competing with behemoth shopping sites taking a huge chunk…
of retail profits,” said David Sykes, Head of North America, Klarna.
“As Americans head back into stores and continue to shop online, we are proud to dedicate resources to help small businesses offer flexible payment solutions that meet customer demand and reach Klarna’s network of more than 18 million US shoppers to further drive sales and marketing.” Over the coming weeks, 100 small businesses will be selected, located throughout the US and spanning the health & beauty, home & garden, jewelry & accessories, fashion, food & beverage, electronics, and entertainment industries.
Many recipients include minority-owned and female-led businesses that were most impacted by the pandemic. 86% of minority-owned small businesses are concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their business’s future, compared with 72% of nonminority-owned businesses, according to the MetLife and U.S.
Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index, and women-owned businesses were more likely to report a loss in sales by a gap of seven percentage points compared to male-owned businesses, according to a report by Facebook and the Small Business Roundtable. “We had to push the launch of our store back last year…
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