Luggage brand July sees sky-high growth with Airwallex payments solutions and more

After bursting onto the eCommerce scene in 2019 and then weathering the storms of COVID, Luggage brand July has been flying sky-high and achieving explosive growth year-on-year. Focused on having both an online and offline presence, they have four retail stores across Australia and are about to launch another in Sydney to showcase their suite of 32 quality products with 168 variants.

After experiencing a 640% revenue increase in 2022 and spending some months at a 1,000% year-on-year growth benchmark, they’ll soon be expanding their current online global reach to include the UK, as well as Australia, New Zealand and the US.

We spoke with Richard Li, July Co-Founder and CEO, on why July has chosen Airwallex as their long-term global financial partner and how Airwallex Payments Solutions are just the tip of the iceberg in their seamless global finance processes.

Richard Li

Co-founder & CEO

“Having Airwallex as our global trusted partner means we can spend less time on the phone to the bank, and more time instead focusing on growing our business both domestically and internationally.”

“When we first started July, we were doing lots of transfers to Asia using a traditional big bank. The transfers were so slow, and the bank would constantly change their rates on the fly without letting us know,” said Richard.

“As an international business, one of the most important things to us is reliable and cost-efficient payments processing and transfers. We have experienced huge growth in the past two years and when you’re scaling at that pace, you sometimes outgrow the partners you’ve chosen to work with."

“One thing was clear: We needed a simple-to-use, truly global financial solution that allowed us to seamlessly accept money from customers in multiple markets convert it to other currencies only when needed, and pay vendors in different countries. In other words, we needed to trade globally - not just Australia.”

According to Richard, the partnership between July and Airwallex has enabled their growth in several key ways:

1. Having a trusted and scalable partner for rapid expansion

With fast growth and a desire to immediately take the business global, Richard knew from the very beginning that Airwallex was the right fit for July’s financial needs.

“I first heard of Airwallex very early on in my journey and we’ve been passionate customers since the beginning. I thought it was amazing - a bunch of young go-getters building a product that has changed the way businesses transfer money internationally,” said Richard.

“Over the years, we’ve seen huge growth from Airwallex. As more and more businesses have adopted their products, we’ve seen them skyrocket in quality and usability. Our business continues to grow on a global scale as we set up offices around the world, and having Airwallex as our financial partner has made it possible for us to seamlessly manage our finances through this international trade expansion.”

2. Consistently achieving at least 10% savings in transfer fees

“We have contractors based in China, the US and Europe, and our Airwallex Global Accounts enables us to make global payments from one simple portal.

“When dealing with international currencies, you can lose a lot of money with exchange rates and settlement fees. Given our upcoming launch in the UK, we’re now chatting with the Airwallex team about receiving money in GBP.”

“We pay our suppliers mostly in USD, and it’s fantastic being able to receive USD and then pay our suppliers directly from that account, without having to expose those funds to fluctuating rates. It’s saving us a big amount of money.”

Airwallex’s Payment Links product is also a great way for July to provide excellent customer service to their corporate clients. Instead of having them pay through Shopify, they can just send them a quick and easy link for the required amount that allows them to be paid instantly.

3. Easy monitoring of employee expenses

Richard says that Airwallex’s Borderless Cards are one of his favourite Airwallex products, as they give July the capability to give their staff an easy way to pay for expenses in seconds, no matter where they are in the world.

“The feature where we can monitor how much employees are spending on their Airwallex cards is incredibly useful to us. We get to have full visibility, as well as being able to set daily and per transaction budgets,” Richard said.

“If an employee forgets to switch from their work account to their personal account and makes purchases, we can easily see this, clarify it with them and then rectify their mistake. It’s such an important feature for both myself and my finance team.

“With Airwallex’s authorisation process, it’s also easy for my team to put together all outgoings that I need to approve, so I can easily ask questions or reject payments. This makes things much safer and secure for the company.”

4. 50% more efficient finance teams

Airwallex’s simple-to-use interface means July can pay their suppliers in seconds - no matter where they are in the world.

“Working with a traditional bank was such a slow process, and their product suites often don’t connect together well. Airwallex is simple to set up and use, and we’re able to easily pay our factories and contractors overseas,” says Richard.

Being able to pay and collect money in different currencies into their global account is also an integral part of July’s financial game plan.

5. Customer service that goes above and beyond

“In every business, things go wrong. No business is perfect, and you need to have partners that respond and act quickly. With traditional banks, you have to go through so much red tape and deal with so many different people. But with Airwallex, it’s been really simple for us.” - Richard Li, July Co-Founder and CEO

Airwallex’s team are always on-hand to support July with any issues or requirements they may have.

“I feel there’s so much synergy between our two companies,” said Richard. “We have a great relationship with the Airwallex team. When I have a question, I can reach out and they’ll always respond very quickly - sometimes within seconds.”

Richard recently had his Airwallex card stolen while travelling, with the person spending money staying at luxury five-star hotels in South Africa.

“As soon as I realised, I got in touch with the Airwallex team. They jumped into action and resolved this almost instantly. That’s the level of service and dedication I see from them, and that’s why we will continue to work with them in the future. They’re always there when you need them.”