In 2010, the co-founders of Bellroy – designers Andrew Fallshaw and Hadrien Monloup and engineers Lina Calabria and Matthew Fallshaw – set out to solve a simple problem. In an era where tight-fitting skinny jeans were the norm, wallets were still bulky and cumbersome.
“We really wanted to think about how we could develop a premium wallet in leather that helped streamline that from both an aesthetic sense and from a function sense,” Tyler House, Bellroy’s head of marketing tells SmartCompany.
The result was the Slim Sleeve, a bi-fold wallet with a minimalist design capable of holding up to 11 cards while maintaining a sleek, pocket-friendly profile. The product quickly resonated with customers and propelled Bellroy to become one of Australia’s leading boutique leather and accessories brands, and a certified B Corp committed to sustainable practices across its premium range.
Sixteen years down the line, Bellroy continues to innovate with its design philosophy of optimising the objects you carry and take with you as you move through the world. Its product line has gradually expanded to include luggage, phone cases, travel accessories, crossbody bags and backpacks.
“The thrust behind the company is this space that we like to define as ‘carry’,” explains House. “And I think that is expressed through our product line. The things that you carry with you throughout your day to help you move better, and with less friction is really the idea”.
The quintessential Bellroy customer is someone who is constantly on the move, whether that’s commuting, travelling or working internationally.
“They’re usually globally minded, well travelled,” says House. “They care both about how things look and how they work.”
This worldliness extends to Bellroy as a company. Following the Slim Sleeve’s release in Australia, Bellroy trialled paid advertising in other markets. The response was immediate -customers from around the world placed orders in droves. “Melbourne brands almost have to take a global perspective right away, because Australia is so isolated,” says House.
While brands from geographically connected hubs like London, Paris and New York can focus on building momentum within its local markets, Australian companies rarely have that luxury. For Bellroy, looking beyond its home market was essential from the outset.
To support its global customer base, Bellroy has invested heavily in localisation. Its website has been translated into nine languages and displays pricing in 13 different international currencies, helping ensure customers can browse and shop in a way that feels familiar.
Different markets come with different expectations, especially at checkout. “Someone’s payment preferences in Germany are very different to someone in Australia, to someone in the United States,” explained House.
For example, while card payments are more common in markets like Australia and the US, bank transfers and alternative payment methods are preferred across different European regions.
Globally recognised payment networks help make that possible. For Bellroy, one of the most widely used is Visa.
“The beautiful part is that it just works. It works for us and it works for the customer,” says House.
Visa offers data-driven e-commerce solutions that provide frictionless checkout experiences for online retailers and customers alike.
Key features of note for ecommerce businesses include Click to Pay (one-click checkouts), where customer details are automatically filled out based on previous purchases; and AI-powered authorisation boost tools that can help optimise payments during heavy traffic periods.
In addition, technologies like Visa’s intelligent authorisation and tokenisation help reduce declined transactions and improve approval rates – critical factors for a brand operating across 160 markets.
Tokenisation replaces sensitive card details with secure digital tokens, helping reduce fraud and ensure more transactions go through on the first attempt.
For businesses like Bellroy, this can have a profound impact on conversion and revenue.
“[Visa is] globally relevant, which matches us as a business,” says House. “Being able to understand that ‘Yes, Visa will work on this website’ is a language that works for everybody.”
Being able to leverage the robust network of Visa, Bellroy has further optimised payments performance with processing platform Stripe, a partner supported by Visa.
Stripe’s payments infrastructure allows Bellroy to introduce and test different payments in individual markets with greater ease than with previous payment processing providers.
That flexibility has helped Bellroy run tests across regions, measuring how different payment methods affect customer behaviour and conversion rates. Early results have been promising, with improved conversion when offering the same payment methods, like Visa, through Stripe.
For Bellroy, delivering that experience means thinking carefully about every stage of the customer journey. “We’re really trying to think about a full funnel of, how does somebody discover us? What is their experience on the website? Down to the checkout and payment methods that they use. Then how does the product can eventually get to them in a really reliable and fast manner,” says House.
Payments play a critical role in that process, but ideally they are something customers hardly notice.
“Personalisation in payments is something that the customer should really never be aware of. It should be invisible for them. They just want to complete the purchase and have the option that best fits them,” House elaborates.
“We want to be sure that it can almost be invisible and undetected as just part of what they would experience as an expectation from other online retailers they’re shopping within that local market.”
Bellroy has always been about removing friction from customers’ everyday lives. The brand has grown its footprint in the “carry space”, creating products that streamline aesthetic and function, while making them easier to purchase in the first place.
House says the brand hopes to continue innovating with this premise in mind, from new product opportunities through to providing the most cutting-edge online retail experience possible.
Visit Visa’s Small Business Hub for more e-commerce resources and tools.
Visa Inc. is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. Visit www.visa.com.au and @VisaNewsAU.
