How DTC eCommerce brand, Linjer, saved more than HKD$78,000 in FX fees

Learn how Linjer uses Airwallex’s multi-currency business account and corporate cards to save on FX.

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Linjer logo

HK$78,000

saved in a few months from currency conversion fees on global expenses

3%

savings on SaaS such as Shopify and others

10+ hours

saved per month from simplified processes

Linjer is an eCommerce company based in Hong Kong. They make sustainably-made jewelry, bags and watches without the luxury markup.

Company size

10 - 50 employees

Location

Hong Kong, Singapore

Industry

Retail

Airwallex Products Used

Payments & FX
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Nowadays, there are many direct-to-consumers affordable, high-quality fashion brands. But in 2014, it's either fast fashion or luxury brands. Jennifer Chong and Roman Khan, then-couple, now husband-and-wife, created Linjer to solve this problem. They create products of the same quality as luxury brands, and sell directly to customers online, without the high markup. They started off with just US$20k savings and crowdfunding. And in the first 14 months, they hit US$1 million in sales.

Jennifer Chong

CEO of Linjer

"I’m so thankful that Airwallex exists! In Hong Kong, it's so hard to find financial service providers that are friendly to small businesses. Airwallex allows me to exchange currencies at really great rates, and the interface is very modern and easy to use compared to my bank. We save so much money with Airwallex! In just a few months, we've already saved more than HK$78,000 in unnecessary bank fees!"

TLDR

  1. In just a few months, Airwallex helped Linjer to save more than HK$78,000 in unnecessary FX and international transfer fees.

  2. Airwallex's VISA Multi-currency Card has great FX rates and it helps Linjer's CEO to save time on expense reimbursement.

Challenges: High FX and transfer fees by bank and PayPal

Before using Airwallex, Linjer made international transfers to their overseas suppliers using bank transfer and PayPal. Their bank and PayPal charge costly fees for foreign exchange. Each bank international transfer costs HK$120 per transfer.

Other than international transfer, they were using their bank's credit cards to purchase items online. When it comes to purchases in foreign currencies, banks usually charge a 3-4% markup on top of the prevailing FX rate determined by Visa/MasterCard. In order to avoid the high fees by the bank, their employees will use their personal credit cards for purchases to get better FX rates. Afterwards, their employees will get reimbursed.

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Solution & Results: How Airwallex international transfers and cards help Linjer save HK$78,000 FX fees

Airwallex helps Linjer to exchange currencies at market-leading rates. And make international transfers for a fraction of the price of a wire transfer or PayPal transfer. Their recipients of the transfers are very satisfied too, because they aren't charged with any incoming wire fees. Typically, businesses will go through the SWIFT network for international transfer via the banks, and there might be a fee incurred on the recipient's end.

Jennifer Chong

CEO of Linjer

"In just a few months we've already saved more than HK$78,000 in unnecessary bank fees!"

Linjer also uses Airwallex's VISA Multi-currency card for online purchases in any currency. There are zero transaction fees on international card payments. Apart from cost saving, this also helps Jennifer to empower her team easily to make purchases without a long, tedious process. She said that this is "not how she wants to spend her time". 

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"I’m so thankful that Airwallex exists! In Hong Kong, it's so hard to find financial service providers that are friendly to small businesses. Airwallex allows me to exchange currencies at really great rates, and the interface is very modern and easy to use compared to my bank. We save so much money with Airwallex! In just a few months, we've already saved more than HK$78,000 in unnecessary fees!"

Jennifer Chong

CEO, Linjer

Airwallex Testimony

"Airwallex provides us with flexibility and cost savings on our international fund flows. We are using Airwallex to pay international suppliers and are saving up to 90% on transaction fees and FX verses traditional banks - thanks to their competitive exchange rate and low transaction costs."

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"With Airwallex, we were able to start accepting local payments quickly. Because the user experience is intuitive and the checkout process faster, we’ve actually had a 50% increase in shoppers using local payment methods."

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