Wild Poppies blossoms online with two-day faster settlement times

Wild Poppies is New Zealand’s largest online florist, delivering flowers, gift boxes and hampers nationwide. With an extensive range of add-ons, including cakes and champagne, the business has earned a reputation for premium products, exceptional presentation, and fast, reliable delivery.

We spoke to owner Kerry Bradburn about how Airwallex has helped her steady cash flow, pay suppliers quickly and gain a level of personal support she wasn’t able to achieve with traditional banks.

Navigating early business challenges

A passion for floristry led Kerry to leave a career in hospitality several decades ago and open a network of bricks-and-mortar flower stores across Auckland. However, as the business expanded, operational complexity increased, and she realised the traditional retail model wasn’t setting her up for sustainable success.

“Running a flower business is a real challenge. You’re dealing with a perishable product that everyone wants delivered quickly,” she explains. “You have to source products at market, get them back to the shop, process them, make up the orders and get them into the courier system. Every customer wants to be the one who gets their order first, so it’s a real challenge.”

“Airwallex is the best system for getting paid quickly”

Looking for a smarter way to operate, Kerry made a strategic pivot. She became one of New Zealand’s early adopters of eCommerce, shifting entirely online in the early 2000s. It was a turning point. Wild Poppies has since grown into a national brand with thousands of loyal customers and glowing reviews.

Operating online, however, brought its own pressures.

“The previous payment gateway we used held funds for a minimum of 3 days before settlement. Of course, that was very disruptive to our cash flow,” Kerry says.

“We rely on regular cash flow as we have lots of small suppliers who are critical to our business. Having adequate funds to be able to quickly settle accounts with them is imperative to maintaining trust,” she adds.

Improving cash flow and building trust with suppliers 

As the business continued to evolve, Kerry trialled several eCommerce and payment solutions in search of faster settlements and better support.

“We had high hopes after moving from BigCommerce to Shopify, but were disappointed after we had a delayed settlement of three days,” she explains. 

The turning point came when Wild Poppies was introduced to Airwallex.

“We discovered Airwallex and decided to change, and we were really thrilled that we did. We’ve had the best service possible, and being able to get funds in more quickly has made our business better off. In turn, it meant that we’ve been able to pay our bills to our suppliers more easily.”

For a business built on trust and fast turnaround, the impact was felt immediately across operations, supplier relationships and day-to-day cash flow management.

“We’ve never had this level of service before”

Kerry says that having a New Zealand-based team with local support is a major bonus for her – and one of the best features of using Airwallex.

“While the change to Airwallex seemed overwhelming at first, we were well-supported from the beginning,” she says. “Our account manager helped us manage the changeover, and he’s literally a phone call away. He’s so friendly and accessible, and we’ve never had that level of service before!”

“With most banks, you’re just a number. You never hear from anyone, so it’s been an incredible change.”

“We’ve improved our settlement time from three days to one day”

For a business that buys and sells every day, settlement time matters. With Airwallex, Kerry now gets access to funds up to two days sooner.

Enhanced security has been another major perk. “With Airwallex, we’ve noticed there are now far fewer fraudulent transactions on our payment system. That’s a real bonus as we were getting two or three every month, and they’ve dropped significantly. It definitely feels like it’s a safer gateway for us.”

As Wild Poppies continues to grow, Kerry values knowing that Airwallex’s broader suite of products can support the business in other ways. For her team, one of the most useful additions has been flexible card solutions.

Kerry explains: “As well as using Airwallex for our online checkout, we also now use cards. We have several one-off suppliers that we don’t have an ongoing relationship with. We may only be transacting with them once, for example. So it’s been brilliant to be able to create a new card on the fly to use and then cancel. It doesn’t impact day-to-day activity in our bank accounts, and we don’t have to worry that the card will be used again.”

This ability to manage ad-hoc supplier payments without exposing bank accounts or permanent cards has given her an added layer of control, efficiency and peace of mind.

Supporting future growth

By improving cash flow, strengthening supplier relationships and streamlining day-to-day operations, Airwallex has become an integral part of Wild Poppies’ online success. 

It’s given Kerry and her team the confidence they need to keep growing and delighting customers nationwide.

Disclaimer: The information contained herein is factual information only and is not intended to imply any recommendation or opinion about a financial product.