Orbitkey accelerates European expansion to over 1,000 stores with Airwallex

Orbitkey’s existing payments infrastructure had difficulty in efficiently dealing with international customers, wholesalers and suppliers. 

Airwallex provided a single platform that enabled localised bank account details, no-cost deposits, low-cost FX transfers and greatly reduced administration time.  

1. Enabling local payments for international customers & wholesalers

Problem: Orbitkey accepted payments from customers in foreign currencies which eventually had to be transferred to an Australian bank account in AUD. FX rates and transfers were expensive which reduced profit margins. Additionally wholesalers needed to pay directly into an Australian account in AUD. This caused a number to decide not to work with Orbitkey due to the costs involved. 

Solution: Airwallex provided a EUR Global Accounts so customers and wholesalers could pay in EUR to a local bank account details to avoid fees. Orbitkey could then cheaply access these funds in AUD. Additionally payment speed from wholesalers increased from 4 days to 1 (75% saving).

Rex Kuo

Co-Founder at Orbitkey

“The most important part for business expanding internationally comes down to localisation. People don’t want to buy out of an Australian warehouse, they want to be buying from a local warehouse. They don’t want to be paying to an unfamiliar bank account with high fees, they want to be paying like a local”

2. Lowering the cost of paying international suppliers & vendors in USD

Problem: Orbitkey paid suppliers (manufacturers) and vendors (marketing ad spend) in USD from their foreign currency account, based out of Australia. This meant they had to pay expensive international transfer fees on each payment made to international suppliers.

Solution: Airwallex’s Global Accounts allowed Orbitkey to make international payments to their suppliers, with their foreign currency funds - saving up to 70% on their international transfer fees. 

3. Reducing administration time and financial errors

Problem: Dealing with multiple financial service providers, onboarding times were long and complex. Orbitkey previously used a service that required customers to include a reference number on payments. This step was often skipped resulting in payments being made without Orbitkey receiving the funds. Using multiple providers caused longer than usual administration times resulting in errors, issues with payments and eventual shipping delays.

Solution: Airwallex is a single platform where all global accounts and features can be accessed and managed from a single login. This resulted in significantly less administration and manual errors; a time saving of 6+ hours per week and the avoidance of flow-on impacts to customers.

Hai Trang

Virtual CFO at Orbitkey

“Like many high growth businesses, you’re dealing with multiple currencies. Now, with Airwallex we’re using the one platform to make multiple currency payments”

Watch more about Obitkey's story here.