PingPong Case Study
Budsies Crafts an Artful Supplier Payment Experience with PingPong
Eliminated Wires Fees
Saved Time from Processing Wires
Streamlined Supplier Payment Process
Turning Art into Gold
Budsies saw the value in artwork that others would have thrown away and turned it into a winning idea: Transform kids’ drawings into stuffed toys, making the world more huggable one Budsies at a time.
130,000 Budsies later, the Florida-based company founded by Alex Furmansky in 2013 has evolved into a beloved toy brand with growing product lines beyond Budsies, including Selfies (portraits turned into toys), Petsies (pets turned into toys), Puppets, and other personalized giftable items.
“I cannot see a reason why we would stop using PingPong. Everything has been smooth since we started and any issues that we’ve had have been quickly resolved. We try to onboard our suppliers to have their own PingPong accounts for more instantaneous payments... Expect that we will continue to work with PingPong for a long time.”
Melissa Heist,
Budsies’ VP of Operations
Life Before PingPong: The Cost of Fame
Fueled by its sheer novelty and the power of social media, the Budsies mania spread like wildfire. With this rising popularity worldwide 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,” said Melissa Heist, Budsies’ VP of Operations.
According to her, some of their suppliers were not being paid for a long period of time because of certain trade regulations and payment-related barriers that vary per country.
Budsies also 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 and 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 novelty was starting to fade, then
Budsies met PingPong
Life with PingPong: A Simple but State-of-the-Art Payment Solution is Key
“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, “ added Melissa.
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.
A New Streamlined & Transparent Cross-Border Payment Process Led to More Winning Results.
By using PingPong, Budsies was able to save more in 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.
Exciting Times Ahead: The Future of Digital Payments is Protected
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!”
Speaking of the future, Budsies is excited about the potential of PingPong’s upcoming Buyer Protection feature, which will revolutionize the supplier vetting process with the goal of protecting buyers from unlawful labor practices, fraudulent supplier operations, and other harmful business tactics that have a huge impact on the supply chain and ultimately, on the customers.
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Eliminated Wires Fees
Saved Time from Processing Wires
Streamlined Supplier Payment Process