The news: Adyen partnered with Simons, Canada’s oldest family-owned retail business. This tie-up will bring Klarna, AliPay, and WeChat to checkout.
Why this matters: Simons is the first retailer in Canada to offer Klarna in-person through Adyen’s platforms. These integrations give Klarna an edge in North America as it competes with Affirm.
Working with AliPay and WeChat Pay also demonstrates legacy Canadian businesses eagerness to snap up spend from Chinese Canadians, who are Canada’s second-largest group of Asian Canadians, per the 2021 Canadian census.
Our first take: Deepening merchant partnerships help outsider or alternative finance platforms gain a foothold in new territories. Klarna has pushed tie-ups with Walmart, Bolt, and DoorDash to break into the US and Canadian markets, a formula that seems to be working as it waits for its Klarna Card to get off the ground in North America.
This strategy also bodes well for WeChat Pay and AliPay that have been trying to increase their international acceptance and spend.
This is our immediate perspective. We’re actively developing this story throughout the day with more research and data from the EMARKETER database. Our in-depth analysis will be included in our client-only Briefings. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.
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