The Problem

Fueled by its sheer novelty and the power of social media, the Budsies mania spread like wildfire. With this rising, worldwide popularity comes ever-growing demands. The company’s production takes place in various parts of the world, including China. Import costs were soaring, and supplier relationships were becoming more complicated. Budsies knew they had to lower trade-related costs without jeopardizing supplier relationships.

"One major headache was the challenge of making cross-border payments to suppliers via traditional bank transfers. There were a lot of uncertainties when it came to paying suppliers overseas. Changing fees were often very frustrating, confusing, and costly. Due to the lack of transparency, sometimes we couldn't figure out where our payments really go.”   – Melissa Heist, Budsies’ VP of Operations

According to Melissa, some of their suppliers were unpaid long periods of time because of certain trade regulations and payment-related barriers that vary per country.

Budsies resorted to using other digital payments providers, but encountered the same inconsistencies. Some fees were waived, others were not. Another pain point was the complicated and usually manual process of entering supplier payment information repeatedly when doing traditional wire transfers. This inefficient process often led to mistakes, as well as supplier payments even bouncing back.

Ultimately, the high fees associated with these online payment platforms were cutting into their profits and putting their relationships with key suppliers at risk.

The Solution

“Paying our suppliers all over the world has been very simple with PingPong. Not only are the rates consistent, but the transparency at every stage of the process helps us make sure that each supplier gets paid in no time, and most payments are instant! Our relationship with our suppliers has never been better." – Melissa Heist, Budsies’ VP of Operations‍

Through PingPong’s smart and simple Supplier Payment feature, which also comes with dedicated account support, Team Budsies is not worrying about gathering excessive bank account details and repeatedly entering said information every time they make overseas payments anymore.

Ever since Budsies switched to PingPong, they’ve been encouraging their global suppliers to join the network to benefit from a faster and more secure payment experience.

Previously, they had to search for a certain code before they could do a transfer. But now, through PingPong’s payment system, and a dedicated account manager who helped them upload payment details from over 1,500 suppliers, this whole process has become automated.

Results

By using PingPong, Budsies was able to save more in just foreign exchange fees alone. This significant reduction in fees was a game-changer for the company, allowing them to invest more in their business and expand their operations. In addition to the savings in foreign exchange fees, Budsies also decreased their AP processing time significantly. This allowed their team to focus on other important aspects of the business, such as customer service and product development.

The company was also able to reduce their costs each month by eliminating wire transfer fees, creating more opportunities for growth and investment.

Looking Ahead

Budsies is constantly expanding their product offering and where to offer them, addressing every customer need and leveraging trends to create more personalized, lovable products. This same customer-first mindset that PingPong has when innovating resonates with Melissa and the rest of Team Budsies.

“We’re starting to incorporate NFT into our products, digital is the future! And we’re happy to be partnered with a payment company like PingPong that is very forward thinking!”

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