Sparks Shoes is a family owned and operated footwear retail store in Beecroft, Sydney. It was established in 1931 originally for boot making and repairing and was eventually turned into a retail store in 1962 before passing on the company to its 3rd generation and current owner, Marion. Her daughter, Jaythene, is currently an owner of the business too.
It has fitted up to 4th generation of customer families for being in the footwear industry for 85 years.
Footwear has always been the family business passion. Its products range from women, children, sporting and other accessories.
They go to great lengths to ensure that the products they buy and purchase are of high quality and exactly what the customers are looking for. Meaning, they look for brands that may not be found everywhere.
Some of the brands they carry both in-store and online are Clarks, Havaianas, Rollie, Ecco, Bobux, Salt Water Sandals, Biomecanics, FRANKiE4, Ciciban, Django & Juliette.
Sparks Shoes also are accredited Clark’s Platinum Children's Fitting Specialists and the original Clark’s Fitting Specialists in Australia! The business is a strong believer that correctly fitted footwear every time is paramount for the well being of young feet now and into their future.
Find out more at sparkshoes.com.au.
Sparks Shoes had asked their payment services provider, a major bank, to enable least-cost routing (LCR) but were advised that implementing LCR would result in an increase in merchant services fees.
The EFTPOS terminals provided by the existing payment services provider also did not integrate with the store's POS system. This meant that sales values needed to be rekeyed into the EFTPOS terminal, an inefficient process that could lead to potential errors.
Sparks Shoes utilised the Merchant Pricing Hub Pricing Comparison service to obtain alternative pricing quotes.
Fee savings estimates were provided based on pricing from a bank and a non-bank payment service provider, both leveraging LCR and using integrated EFTPOS terminals.
Sparks Shoes elected to switch to Suncorp achieving fee savings of 39% and further process efficiencies from using EFTPOS terminals that integrated with the store's existing Vend POS system.
"The process with Payments Consulting to review our Merchant Service Fees was simple. We supplied Payments Consulting with the last 12 months merchant service statements, and they came back with several options. Once we confirmed that the integration could occur between our POS system (Vend) and the payment terminal, we advised Payments Consulting of our decision to move to Suncorp. Suncorp contacted us and could not have been more helpful in moving us from our old acquirer to Suncorp. We commenced routing to Suncorp late in 2021. During January 2022, we traded well up for the month. Our costs for our Merchant Service Fees were 39% lower than the previous year. I would gladly recommend the services of Payments Consulting if you want to save money on your Merchant Service Fees."
Russell Zimmerman, Director
Sparks Shoes
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Sparks Shoes utilised the Merchant Pricing Hub Pricing Comparison service to obtain alternative pricing quotes and achieved a 39% fee saving and further process efficiencies with POS integration by moving to a different payment service provider.
Payments Consulting Network supported Hill Street to achieve cost savings in the first year of approximately $190,000 (30%) by enabling least-cost routing and negotiating more competitive pricing.
Co-operative Supermarkets Australia Limited (CSA) is an incorporated co-operative whose members operate independent supermarket and convenience stores. CSA engaged Payments Consulting Network to manage a request for proposal process for merchant services and conduct card scheme negotiations in order to obtain a market leading group merchant services pricing deal for members.
Co-operative Supermarkets Australia Limited (CSA) is an incorporated co-operative formed in late 2019 whose members operate independent supermarket and convenience stores. CSA has authorisation to collectively bargain with suppliers of goods and services to the Australian grocery industry.
CSA has 4 purposes:
CSA members operate over 330 stores.
CSA sought to go to market with a Request for Proposal (RFP) to negotiate a group merchant services pricing deal with the objective of achieving significant fee savings for its members.
Payments Consulting Network (PCN) was engaged to: develop the Merchant Services RFP materials; compile payments volumes and fee data provided by members; manage the RFP process; support the evaluation of RFP responses; conduct pricing negotiations with RFP respondents; conduct strategic merchant rate negotiations with the card schemes; develop a fee savings calculator and reporting tool; support CSA with contract negotiations; support CSA members with queries on the fee savings comparison; and make recommendations to the CSA Board.
Throughout the RFP process and card scheme negotiations, PCN reported on a weekly basis to a Working Group comprised of the CSA commercial manager and chief financial officers and directors of two of CSA’s larger members. PCN also presented monthly updates to the CSA Board, which comprised owners of the major supermarket groups within the membership base, and conducted Q&A sessions on the project at regular state based ‘town hall’ video meetings held with CSA members.
Through the RFP process and card scheme negotiations, PCN achieved the following outcomes:
“The depth, breadth and knowledge of the payments sector provided by PCN gave the CSA Working Group the ability to analyse, recommend and execute an end-to-end payments solution that would have taken considerable time otherwise for CSA staff independently to develop. CSA has retained the services of PCN to assist with the smooth implementation of the CSA payments solution and yearly ongoing reviews. The CSA executive team highly recommend PCN for payments sector consulting.”
Katrina Chung, Chief Financial Officer
Co-operative Supermarkets Australia
“In order to completely get a grasp of how the industry operates and what the fees and rebates are between all participants, you need an experienced industry expert. That is exactly what we got when Mangala Martinus was engaged to assist with the tender process. From his meticulous review of the numerous retailers’ current fee structures to preparing a professional tender document, Mangala excelled in all areas. He saw the project through from start to finish and the way he interacted between the Co-op retailers and the card scheme operators with such a cool head, enabled CSA to extract a deal that went way beyond our expectations. His knowledge was unquestionable but his best attribute was the way he explained the process and interim results to retailers who basically had no idea how this system worked.”
Mal Cameron, Chief Financial Officer and Director
Ritchies Stores (Working Group Member)
“PCN’s experience in the payments industry was invaluable and without PCN we could never have come close to the results that we achieved. PCN was able to cut through all of the complexity and achieve the best possible result for each member of the Co-op. This was no easy feat given the varying sizes and locations of the different Co-op members.”
Vasilli Karellas and Colm Phelan, Director and Chief Financial Officer
Karellas Group
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