[This is a sponsored article with Visa.]
Not many florists can say they’ve had the privilege of arranging flowers for magazine covers or designer runway shows. But Petite Fleur can, as one of the few local florists that has successfully branched out beyond Singapore.
Patricia Tanuwijaya, founder and CEO of Petite Fleur, would’ve never imagined how her love for flowers would evolve into the thriving business it is today.
Looking back, she needed more than just passion to succeed—she had to learn how to run a business quickly as a young entrepreneur.
While juggling her career as an accountant at PwC, Patricia established Petite Fleur in 2017 after gaining an interest in floristry and creating her flower arrangements for her family and friends. However, Patricia soon found herself working around the clock as the business grew and orders started to come in.
“It got to a point where I felt very burnt out juggling two jobs with very little sleep,” lamented Patricia, adding that she was always rushing home after work to order her flowers, arrange deliveries, and often worked until 2 a.m. every morning to fulfil her orders on time.
Eventually, Patricia decided to take a leap of faith and leave her auditing career behind to become a full-time florist and grow Petite Fleur.
Managing finances was her biggest pain point
Branding themselves as an “online flower delivery shop”, Patricia not only had to learn how to be her own boss on the fly, but she also struggled to manage the business’s financial operations effectively.
At the start, Petite Fleur solely accepted cash on delivery and bank transfers, which made the bookkeeping process tedious and time-consuming. “I had to remember each and every cash transaction if I did not record it down right away,” said Patricia.
This also led to frequent payment collection issues with customers, especially when some cancelled their orders at the last minute, while others required multiple follow-ups before making payment, or even refusing to pay for their orders after delivery, which was the last straw for Patricia.
Hence, she decided to stop accepting cash and bank transfers altogether and pivot to Visa’s card payment acceptance solutions. This allowed Petite Fleur to establish greater trust and transparency with her customers, as they had to confirm their orders and make payments before their flowers were delivered.
“Accepting Visa card payments legitimises the business and empowers us to focus our efforts on running the business,” added Patricia.
This turned out to be the right move as Petite Fleur saw a significant increase in revenue, achieving a steady year-on-year growth of 20 to 30 per cent since they started to accept Visa card payments.
Making it easier to run the business
In line with digitalising her finance operations, Patricia also uses a Visa business card to simplify her business payments.
Previously, she was using her personal credit card to make business expenses, and it was time-consuming as she had to look through monthly bank card statements to segregate her personal and business expenses.
Having a business card makes Petite Fleur’s business expenses and cash flow more visible and relieves Patricia from redundant administrative tasks.
Aside from having dashboards and generating reports, it also allows her to perform bulk or scheduled payments to ensure bills are paid on time.
With separate business cards, I can easily track expenses, generate reports, and reconcile finances. I don’t have to worry if my cash expenses or income got recorded properly.
Patricia Tanuwijaya, founder of Petite Fleur
Another key benefit of a business credit card is the ability to unlock instant cash flow with zero interest for up to 55 days, which is critical for small businesses like Petite Fleur.
Leverage digital payment solutions to grow your business
With the help of Visa’s payment solutions, Patricia was able to expand her operations, move into a bigger studio in Singapore, and branch out to Jakarta, Indonesia, last year with a larger team of florists supporting its operations.
Moving forward, she hopes to expand beyond Singapore and Indonesia, with plans to open new offices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Melbourne, Australia, in the next two years.
She also expressed her confidence that Petite Fleur will continue flourishing and bringing joy to many more customers.
As a working mother of two children, Patricia recognises the benefits of digital payment solutions to optimise her finance processes and free up valuable time in her busy schedule.
“If I can run the business efficiently, I have more time to spend with my kids,” she said.
By improving the business’s overall efficiency and productivity, Petite Fleur can concentrate on fulfilling orders and generating revenue, supporting their growth ambitions to expand further across the region.
Learn more about Visa’s solutions for small businesses here and read more insights below.
- Read more insights from Visa here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Singaporean startups here.
Featured Image Credit: Petite Fleur