Klarna, Cosmopolitan co-host virtual shopping event

Dive Brief:

Klarna has teamed up with Cosmopolitan Magazine to host its second "Hauliday by Cosmo x Klarna," a virtual shopping holiday in the U.S. for Gen Z and millennial consumers, on March 1 and 2, the installment payment platform announced on Thursday.
The event will feature fashion, footwear and cosmetics from retailers and brands like Macy's, Rebecca Minkoff, Saks Off 5th, Express and Foot Locker. There will be a livestream shopping element thanks to a partnership with ShopShops, the company said.
Customers can join the event through Klarna and Cosmopolitan's websites, and join the livestream at Macy's Herald Square through the ShopShops app. Jackie Miranne, TV personality, blogger and model, will host the livestream, per the company announcement.

Dive Insight:

Citing the multi-billion dollar livestream market in China, Klarna noted that the event could be a new way for retailers to market to customers in the U.S. Alibaba's Global Shopping Festival, which featured livestreaming, brought in more than $74 billion last year.

Other companies, including QVC and Facebook, have also made moves in the livestream commerce space, while livestream shopping platform Talkshoplive raised $3 million in a recent funding round.

The collaboration with the magazine follows the debut of Klarna's loyalty program and the rollout of its services via Google Pay over the summer, as well as the continued expansion of its partnerships with retailers like GameStop and Etsy. In October, the company also received an investment from Macy's. Now, the platform has 3.5 million monthly active users, per the announcement.

"Following the success of last year's Hauliday event, in which Klarna saw three times the volume on our app compared to an average weekend in 2020, we're thrilled to continue our partnership with Cosmopolitan Magazine for round two," David Sandstrom, chief marketing officer at Klarna, said in a statement. "The newly-added livestream shopping component enables us to improve the shopping experience for our 15 million U.S. customers and drive even more engagement and sales for our participating retail partners."

Cosmopolitan's young readership is part of the reason for the partnership: Its readers also spent $9.9 billion on online purchases in the last year, according to the release.

Players in the retail space have a history of working with influential media companies or figures. Wardrobe, the peer-to-peer fashion rental startup, enlisted current and former Vogue staffers to host its "Thanks for Sharing" virtual panel discussion. Cosmopolitan's sister magazine Marie Claire unveiled its fashion aggregation and e-commerce platform, Marie Claire Edit, in 2018. And last November, Walmart teamed up with Verizon Media, which owns HuffPost, Yahoo, TechCrunch, In The Know and Engadget, to create shoppable articles, videos and a dedicated Yahoo Shopping hub for the holiday season.

"Our goal with the second Hauliday event, complete with a livestream shopping element, is to deliver an interactive and fun shopping experience for our audience of digitally-savvy consumers whose purchasing habits continue to evolve," Nancy Berger, senior vice president, publishing director and chief revenue officer at Cosmopolitan, said in a statement.