A perfect fit! Esther & Co partners with Airwallex for financial success

Fashion brand Esther & Co focus on growth by partnering with Airwallex

Esther & Co. is a leading eCommerce clothing brand that strives to make every woman feel amazing. With a diverse range of clothing pieces, from feminine dresses to timeless classics, the brand creates fashion that empowers everyone to look and feel their best.

Originally founded in 2004 as a brick-and-mortar store in Tasmania, the brand’s eponymous lines - Esther The Label and Esther Luxe - are now available worldwide, and have proven to be particularly popular in the Australian, New Zealand, US and Canadian markets. 

We spoke with Esther & Co. Operations Executive and Customer Care Manager, Olivia Kwiatkowski, on why they chose to have Airwallex as their financial partner, and how the business uses Airwallex every day to streamline their processes, save their team time, and support them in taking their business to the next level. 

Fast, transparent payments and easier accounting

Olivia says that Esther and Co. discovered Airwallex because, as their business grew, they were struggling to streamline the process for international supplier payments. 

“With a growing business, there are a lot of payments to manage and process, and that’s actually where our journey with Airwallex began.” says Olivia. 

“Before Airwallex, we were using a traditional bank. In terms of timing, we were mostly always waiting an additional day or two for payments to be processed, and it was difficult to monitor the progress of payments processed."

“The experience was clunky and time-consuming because there was so much back and forth within the Esther team of ‘has this payment gone through?', 'was this one approved?', 'Is remittance available?' The process wasn't as intuitive or transparent at all.”

Olivia Kwiatkowski

Esther & Co. Operations Executive and Customer Care Manager

“I find the process of using Airwallex so transparent in terms of visually being able to see the transactions we’re making, any fees associated with those transactions, and what the conversion rate breakdown is. You have a live feed of where your money is going and how much it’s costing you to send it there.”

‘With Airwallex, it's quicker to send payments to suppliers as opposed to using a traditional bank. This was really important for us, so we knew exactly how much we were paying. I feel with your traditional bank services, not only is it a more lengthy process, but it takes longer for those payments to be reflected on your statements. Whereas with Airwallex, it’s basically instantaneous.”

Payroll processed on time, every time

Another benefit of using International Transfers for Esther and Co. is that they’re able to easily and quickly pay their overseas team. 

“We have agents in the Phillippines who we pay them every fortnight. Using Airwallex has been amazing in this sense, as the process of doing their payroll was quite clunky in the past,” Olivia says.

“We would need to either use PayPal or our traditional bank, and this came with delays that could impact them personally. Using Airwallex made this process efficient for us, and also provided our team with the benefit of usually receiving their pay the same day. I know the team has really appreciated this, and it’s been a game changer for us as well.”

A new world of possibilities with Borderless Cards

With lots of costs coming through the business, including paying international suppliers and teams, Borderless Cards have been a huge help to the Esther and Co. team. 

Olivia Kwiatkowski

Esther & Co. Operations Executive and Customer Care Manager

“One aspect of Airwallex that goes beyond the fast and easy international payments is the Borderless Card capabilities. It’s simple, it’s quick, the process is intuitive, and it’s a functionality that I really appreciate as an Operations Executive. Streamlining this process has absolutely saved us time.”

“Before Airwallex, we only had one credit card for our whole business. This obviously wasn’t ideal and had many limiting factors, such as credit limits and authorisations that needed to go through several people, who often weren’t available or working in different time zones.”

“Now that we use Airwallex, we can assign a team member a card, and then they receive and are using it later that same day. We can easily set boundaries such as restrictions on ‘per day’ or ‘per transaction' amounts, which has been really valuable. I even have a few cards that I’ve allocated specifically for certain tasks, such as end-of-quarter tax payments.”

More time to spend on growing the business

Thanks to the suite of Airwallex products, Esther and Co. now spend less time managing their international payments and finance records, and more time doing what they do best - focusing on growth. 

“Being a small business and a small team, our time is valuable,” says Olivia. 

“Wherever we can save a couple of hours or even a few minutes per week really adds up and can make a massive difference in the amount of time we can then invest into other areas of the business. Having that effortless experience with Airwallex has positively impacted the amount of time and effort we’re able to spend on other projects that support our growth trajectory.”

“We had a strategic meeting the other day where we were discussing our plans for the next financial year, and expanding further into the US market is a major goal. With that comes a lot of considerations, and we know that Global Accounts and Payment Gateway would become a very important part of that - which is really exciting.”

Customer service that exceeds expectations

Esther and Co. found that getting started with Airwallex was simple, and the ongoing support they’ve had from their dedicated Account Manager has helped them make the most of Airwallex’s offerings. 

“When we started our journey with Airwallex, it was great to be able to clarify all the offerings, decide which ones would be best for our business, and then engage in continuous collaboration with the Airwallex team to get the ball rolling on everything,” says Olivia. 

“I touch base regularly via email with our Account Manager, Sean. Even today we had a meeting regarding a new feature that he wanted to help us use, so we’re always keeping in touch and exploring new ways to utilise the technology. It’s very inspiring for us in terms of how we can make our business’s processes better.”

“Our experiences with the Airwallex team are always positive in the timeliness of the responses and the level of detail they provide. The team is awesome, and if there are any points we’re not able to get to in a phone call - we always sort it out at a later date once they have received more information.”

“We collaborate really well together, which is important between a business and its suppliers. Airwallex’s level of customer service is very appreciated. It’s something we never experienced when we were with our traditional bank.”

Empower your business with Airwallex's financial solutions to streamline your operations and expand globally just as Esther & Co did.