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

Orbitkey is a design-driven accessories brand committed to helping people organize their everyday essentials. As the business grew internationally, managing payments from global customers, wholesalers, and suppliers became increasingly complex and costly. Orbitkey needed a more efficient way to handle international transactions, reduce fees, and streamline financial administration.

The challenge

Orbitkey’s existing payments infrastructure struggled to accommodate international transactions efficiently. Customers and wholesalers often paid in foreign currencies, which then had to be converted to Australian dollars (AUD), incurring high FX costs and slow transfer times. Also, wholesalers faced the burden of paying directly into an Australian account in AUD, which prevented some from working with Orbitkey due to the additional fees involved.

At the same time, Orbitkey was paying international suppliers and vendors in USD from an Australian-based foreign currency account, leading to expensive international transfer fees on each transaction. Managing multiple financial service providers also introduced operational inefficiencies, causing delays, administrative errors, and increased manual workload for the finance team.

The solution

By integrating Airwallex’s Global Accounts, Orbitkey gained a seamless and cost-effective solution for managing global payments. With a dedicated EUR Global Account, customers and wholesalers can now make payments in their local currency, avoiding unnecessary FX fees. This reduced costs and sped up wholesale payments, cutting transfer times from four days to just one – a 75% improvement.

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”

For supplier and vendor payments, Orbitkey used Airwallex to pay international partners directly from its foreign currency funds, eliminating excessive international transfer fees and reducing costs by up to 70%.

On top of that, Airwallex’s all-in-one platform replaced multiple financial service providers, significantly reducing administrative workload. Previously, Orbitkey relied on a system that required customers to manually include reference numbers for payments, leading to frequent errors and missing funds. With Airwallex, all Global Accounts and transactions can be managed from a single platform, minimizing manual mistakes, eliminating inefficiencies, and saving the finance team over six hours weekly.

The results

Orbitkey now operates with a simplified and scalable financial infrastructure that supports its global growth. The ability to accept payments in local currencies has strengthened relationships with international customers and wholesalers while reducing FX fees and transfer costs and improving profit margins. Faster payment processing and reduced administrative work have enabled the business to operate more efficiently, ensuring smoother transactions with suppliers and an overall enhanced customer experience.

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.”

With Airwallex, Orbitkey has removed financial barriers to international expansion, allowing the brand to focus on what it does best – creating beautifully designed products that enhance everyday life.

Watch more about Obitkey's story here.