Success Stories: Lux Cuttings
Learn how Lux Cuttings adopted Access Mintsoft to continue the growth of their business.
Background
Lux Cuttings is the oldest retail hydroponics shop in the Southern Hemisphere, offering access to the latest and greatest in hydroponics equipment, technology, and techniques.
Operating since 2012, Lux Cuttings has five employees in their brick-and-mortar, three-story shop in Bondi Junction and are heavily represented through their ecommerce websites and Amazon and eBay marketplaces.
Challenges
- Their current software provider, Veeqo, left the Australian ERP marketplace, leaving Lux Cuttings in need of a solution.
- Competitors could not offer a satisfactory replacement solution without complex workarounds and add-ons.
- Couldn’t find another solution which synched with Australia Post or seamlessness with an eBay Australia integration.
Approach
- Implementing Access Mintsoft to run the business without any extra stress or complexity.
Results
- Time back for the owner to focus on growing the business.
- Amazing experiences with our implementation, sales and support.
What were the challenges?
A gap in the market
In 2013, Lux Cuttings were the first hydroponics store in Australia to have an ecommerce website but were finding issues maintaining their stock control and inventory levels.
After hunting around, the business discovered Veeqo’s multichannel ecommerce shipping software, and stayed with it for eight years, due to its centralised dashboard to fulfill their stock and order management needs. It also seamlessly integrated with WooCommerce and Australia Post.
However, Veeqo was acquired by Amazon in 2021, and this prompted a change in direction for Lux Cuttings.
As owner Mischa Esquilant explained, Lux Cuttings received an email out of the blue letting them know that Veeqo would now only be serving customers based in the UK and US.
This left Mischa with no option but to search the market for another solution that would give Lux Cuttings the same level of effortlessness and efficiency.
Solution
Researching the ERP marketplace
With the goal of filling the gap left behind by Veeqo’s departure from Australia, Mischa explains that there was a lot of trial and error in finding a solution that could do everything he needed.
"We looked at heaps of solutions, such as Brightpearl, Cin7, and GoDaddy, to do what we needed. There were a few problems with each of these for us. 99% didn’t integrate with Australia Post. Lots of them integrated with eBay, but only the US version which has different fields to the Australian one, meaning it integrated in a very messy way. These issues culled the list of potential solutions down significantly,” Mischa says.
“There were also larger systems that required a dedicated on-site IT team to manage effectively because they weren’t user friendly for a layman like myself. They also costed around $2-5000 USD per month. So that ruled those out.”
“We also trialed Maropost for a time, but they made a lot of promises that they didn’t see through, and they created complicated workaround for our marketplace and had turnaround times of 2-3 weeks which is unrealistic in an online order environment where you need answers yesterday for your business to operate.”
Luckily, a contact of Mischa’s recommended The Access Group and Mintsoft to him and the rest is history.
“A guy I get to do my IT used to work for The Access Group, and he recommended going with Mintsoft because they have the resources and development that can make the system work for my needs.”
Results
More time back to grow the business
Access Mintsoft became a clear frontrunner for Lux Cuttings, who at the time of writing have been using the solution for five weeks. Mischa says he cannot sing our praises enough.
“Mintsoft ticks every box for me, it has an integrated PoS system, a very competitive price point, and I don’t need to go to third parties for extra functionality. Everything is in house and very easy to use, both in the office and at home. There really is nothing else out there like Mintsoft,” Mischa says.
“The sales process, as well as the implementation and technical support I received from Access alone is a reason that other businesses out there should consider Mintsoft.”
“I’ve only had 5 phone calls with you, and you’re always transparent about what functionality you have, and never overpromise anything. The sales representative I dealt with would always say ‘let me find out for you’ if he didn’t have all the answers to my customisation requests there and then, which I really appreciated.”
Mischa also added that he’s already reaping the benefits from Mintsoft.
“I feel like I have a system I can trust without having to manually double or triple check everything. I am already less stressed, more motivated, and I feel I have more time to grow my business rather than maintain it.”