November 2022 Summaries

Airwallex’s November releases introduce features intended to support end-of-year sales, expense management, and international payments. Online Payments now accepts American Express alongside more than 60 payment methods, while a referral program rewards both referrers and new users after currency exchanges. Expenses workflows can use multiple approval layers based on spending thresholds, UK customers can set up direct debits through United Kingdom Global Accounts, and Xero Invoice Payments is available in Hong Kong and Singapore for multicurrency invoice collection and automatic reconciliation. Physical cards have launched in Singapore, and updates include a Shopify plugin supporting 13 languages, immediate FPS payment processing during Hong Kong business hours, multiple accounts under one legal entity, and direct settlement of Canadian dollars, New Zealand dollars, and Swiss francs to Global Accounts to reduce foreign-exchange conversions.

Airwallex and A2X are presented as complementary financial technology tools for eCommerce businesses expanding internationally, helping reduce administrative work, currency-conversion costs, and tax reconciliation complexity. Airwallex provides multi-currency accounts, global transfers, foreign-exchange services, payment acceptance tools, and cards, allowing businesses to collect and spend funds in local currencies while integrating transactions with Xero. A2X automates the reconciliation of marketplace payments from platforms including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, and Etsy, categorizing sales, fees, refunds, and taxes across regions and jurisdictions. Accounting partners recommend combining these tools with systems such as Xero and invoice-processing software to create a more efficient financial stack that supports accurate VAT payments, reliable transaction records, and lower operational costs as businesses scale across borders.

Prioritisation frameworks help product teams rank initiatives by customer value, business goals, impact, effort, and available resources, reducing bias and improving roadmap decisions. The overview examines the Effort Impact Matrix, which identifies quick wins, major projects, low-value tasks, and resource-intensive work; RICE, which scores features using reach, impact, confidence, and effort; MoSCoW, which classifies requirements as must-have, should-have, could-have, or will-not-have; the Kano Model, which uses customer expectations and satisfaction to distinguish basic, performance, attractive, and indifferent features; and Weighted Scoring, which evaluates features against business-defined criteria. Selecting an approach depends on the time available, the quality of customer and quantitative data, and the team’s ability to make data-based decisions. The piece also notes that companies can consider buying third-party technology rather than building features internally, promoting Airwallex’s embedded financial infrastructure as an option for accelerating product development.

eCommerce personalisation uses customer data such as demographics, browsing behavior, purchase history, preferences, intent, and device usage to tailor content, product recommendations, promotions, navigation, and checkout experiences. The approach is presented as a way to improve relevance, loyalty, conversions, average order value, engagement, user experience, competitive differentiation, and understanding of product demand; the source cites Epsilon research suggesting personalised experiences make customers 80% more likely to purchase. Unlike customisation, which is controlled by the shopper, personalisation is designed by the retailer using customer insights. Effective strategies include localised content, related-product recommendations and bundles, targeted discounts, adaptive site navigation, user-generated content, first-visit offers, recommended searches, and personalised exit offers. CMS and CRM platforms can work together to manage content and track customer interactions, while headless CMS technology supports omnichannel delivery across websites, mobile apps, social media, physical stores, and connected devices. The text also promotes Airwallex as a checkout personalisation option, highlighting its integrations and support for multiple currencies and local payment methods.

SaaS pricing involves setting recurring subscription fees that balance customer value with sustainable profit margins, with research cited suggesting that even small pricing improvements can significantly affect profitability. Common pricing models include flat-rate, usage-based, tiered, per-user, per-feature, and freemium approaches, each offering different trade-offs in simplicity, flexibility, revenue predictability, scalability, and customer retention. Pricing strategies such as penetration, premium, captive, cost-based, competitor-based, and value-based pricing determine how products are positioned and perceived, often in combination with one another and with specific pricing models. Effective decisions should consider metrics including customer lifetime value, acquisition cost, churn, and monthly recurring revenue, as well as target customers, competitors, and willingness to pay. The discussion emphasizes regularly reassessing prices and packages as customer needs and business conditions change, while also promoting Airwallex tools for managing subscriptions, recurring payments, and multi-currency collections.

Return on ad spend (ROAS) measures revenue earned for each dollar spent on advertising and helps eCommerce businesses assess campaign profitability separately from broader return on investment (ROI). Calculated by dividing campaign-attributed revenue by total advertising costs, including media spend, agency fees, in-house personnel, and affiliate commissions, ROAS can guide decisions about scaling, pausing, forecasting, and testing campaigns in new markets. Although a 4:1 ratio is commonly considered healthy, appropriate targets depend on margins, budgets, business goals, and campaign maturity; lower returns may be acceptable during market entry while brand awareness is being built. Cross-border campaigns can produce different ROAS because of competition, currency and transfer fees, demand, click-through and conversion rates, localized customer experience, average order value, and margins. The discussion identifies Google Search, Google Display, Facebook, and Instagram as major PPC channels, with pricing models such as cost per click, impressions, or acquisition, and recommends improving ROAS through lower click costs, market-specific creative and targeting, website localization, higher conversion rates and order values, and reduced international fulfillment and payment costs.

Virgilijus Mirkės, Airwallex’s Lithuania Country Manager, describes joining the fast-growing fintech in September 2021 during its EMEA expansion, drawn by its global ambitions, customer-focused payments infrastructure, and opportunities for professional impact. He highlights Lithuania’s emergence as the EU’s largest fintech hub by number of licensed companies, supported by innovation-friendly regulation, a skilled and motivated workforce, and collaboration with the Bank of Lithuania, which granted Airwallex an EMI licence in October 2021. Airwallex launched its EMEA operations service centre in Lithuania in January 2022 and began providing full services in July 2022, building a local team of more than 15 employees with plans to exceed 20 by year-end and continue expanding in 2023. The company aims to support technology-enabled businesses in sectors such as ecommerce, travel, and logistics while expanding its local hiring, payment offerings, and Lithuania-based functions including customer support, onboarding, and transaction monitoring for EMEA.