How Ginger leads a successful digital transformation during the pandemic?

Founded in 2008, Ginger is a fashion brand that promotes Hong Kong designs through collaborating with different local creators. When the pandemic hit, their founder Ken Ma took their brick-and-mortar business online to adapt to the changes in the retail industry. 

To accomplish the update in their business model, Ginger switched over from traditional banks to Airwallex to better suit their needs for running an eCommerce-focused brand. The whole process of opening their Airwallex business account took less than 48 hours, making it a truly seamless transition. 

Today, Ginger no longer relies on the services of traditional banks as Airwallex offers a one-stop platform for all their needs.

Minimising 99% of transaction fees for overseas payments

As a homegrown brand that champions local talents, Ken works closely with many Hong Kong designers to create Ginger’s designs. In the last few months, a number of these designers have relocated overseas, which presents a royalty payment challenge for Ken as he needs to transfer money internationally to pay them.

In the past, Ken faced expensive foreign exchange rates and transaction fees when making overseas payments via traditional banks. He also found that there is a lack of transparency with many of these online banking platforms and that they are inconvenient and difficult to use.

Using Airwallex transfers function, Ken can directly pay his overseas designers without having to go through the SWIFT network, saving up to 99% in international transaction fees.

Cutting down 90% of time spent on expense management

By using Airwallex for handling and reporting their expenses, the Ginger team is able to free up valuable time from dealing with tedious expense claims to focus on growing the business. Before using Airwallex, Ginger relied on a heavily manual process of expense management. For every single business expense they made – from placing printing orders on E-Print to sending off overseas deliveries at the post office and paying for social media ads – employees used their personal credit cards or asked Ken to pay for the spending. To get reimbursed for their business purchases, the team had to first download their card statements from the bank, and then export them to a spreadsheet at the end of each month for accounting purposes. Ken had to go through the submitted spreadsheet and pay each employee back – a time-consuming and inefficient process.

After creating an Airwallex business account for Ginger, Ken is able to immediately create Visa cards for his employees online and use the expense management functions.

Ken notices that while it is difficult for local SMEs to apply for company cards at traditional banks, it is incredibly quick and simple to create Visa employee cards for his whole team for free with Airwallex.

By linking their Airwallex employee card to Apple Pay or Google Pay or using physical cards, all employee spending will be automatically recorded onto Airwallex. Once the receipt or invoice has been uploaded to Airwallex, it will be automatically synced with Xero for easy account reconciliation.

Digital transformation during the pandemic

Since the start of the pandemic, Ginger has been more focused on growing its online sales. Recently, the brand started using the Airwallex Shopify integration as its payment gateway. This enables them to receive customer payments directly in their Airwallex account. They can then use these funds for other company expenses without having to first make any manual deposit. Airwallex also offers a Payment Link function – which accepts all kinds of payment methods including Visa, Mastercard, Alipay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay – enabling Ginger to be more flexible and offering their customers more payment options when they order via WhatsApp or Instagram. What’s more, this easy-to-use payment gateway organizes all receipts in one place, making it easier for the team to prepare for order fulfilment.

A 360° online transformation

In the past few years, Ginger has undergone a complete online transformation. For Ken, “going online” doesn’t only mean growing their eCommerce business, it also means a change in working style and management model. During their ongoing digital transformation, Airwallex supports Ginger in adapting to the eCommerce world by providing an easy one-stop platform that handles everything from expense tracking and management to international payments and eCommerce payment gateway.

Looking to take your eCommerce to the next level? Get started with us today to accelerate your business growth both locally and globally!

Get multi-currency company cards online for free

Ready to scale your business with Airwallex? Get more from your spending with our free multi-currency company cards. Open a foreign currency account with us and say goodbye to high foreign exchange rates and bank transaction fees. Get started with us today and instantly create virtual Visa company cards for your employees that can be used right away! Click here to learn more. Click here to watch the full video interview with Ginger.