Dresden used Vend to power their growth, adding 5 stores in 18 months.
Watch DRESDEN'S story
Eyewear
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Multi-store
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AU
Australia
Dresden is an eyewear retailer and eye healthcare provider. Their mission? To revolutionize the industry by providing the world with affordable, locally made, sustainably fashioned glasses.
Multi-channel retailer with 5 stores across Australia, a mobile on-the-road shop operated with Vend and international expansion underway
dresden.com.auAt a Glance
5 stores opened in 18 months
Dresden uses Vend to:
The Challenge
Dresden might’ve started in Australia, but the retailer always planned on expanding across the world. They needed a POS that’d make it easy to open new locations and grow the business.
The Dresden team founded their business after becoming frustrated with the eyeglasses shopping experience in Australia. Instead of buying so-so frames at sky-high prices and feeling dissatisfied, they wanted to be able to purchase functional, dependable, fun eyewear with a reasonable price tag.
So that’s exactly what Dresden created: an eyewear business dedicated to affordably priced, sustainably made, dependably fashioned glasses.
Named for the design and manufacturing values of Germany that they most admire, Dresden set out to conquer the world. Their mission? To bring quality eyewear to everyone who needs it, regardless of location or income.
Their desire to expand across the globe necessitated a point of sale system capable of scaling quickly and easily without compromising the functioning of the business.
They also wanted to provide optometry services and easily share information about patient care with those patients’ respective GPs and specialists.
“Vend allows us to quickly and easily set up new shops, even those we’re planning overseas – like New Zealand and Canada. We simply duplicate our products and services and adjust prices, taxes, and invoice setup.”
Isaac Sheer, Chief Integrator
The Solution
Vend allows retailers to scale at the click of a button - so Dresden knew it could take them where they wanted to go.
Vend’s ability to add new locations with the tap of a finger (and to easily set up and manage those additional locations) made it the ideal choice for Dresden. But the retailer chose Vend for more than just that.
Chief Integrator Isaac Sheer notes that Vend is “able to support multi-currency and multi-tax,” making it a no-brainer for a startup looking to take the world by storm.
The eyewear business also selected Vend because of its 24/7 available support and inventory management capabilities. Dresden produces “ultra-durable, lightweight frames in your choice of unlimited color combos” — so they needed a POS that could alleviate the manual stress of handling all those back-office admin and inventory tasks.
In its five stores, Dresden operates Vend on iPad, iPad mini, and Mac. “We also access Vend remotely for things such as product setup, inventory, and reporting,” says Isaac.
The retailer built its own CRM system, which they’ve fully integrated with Vend’s open API. And for accounting and payments? They chose Xero and Tyro, both integrated with Vend.
“We have a mobile shop, for which Vend has been invaluable. For setup, all we needed was an internet connection from a mobile modem - allowing us to operate in remote areas and at festivals.”
Isaac Sheer, Chief Integrator
Dresden brings their solution together with the best in retail
The Results
Five stores opened in 18 months (including an on-the-go “workshop on wheels”), overseas expansion thanks to Vend’s ability to support different currencies and tax systems, and valuable time saved on inventory management
Vend’s scalability has allowed Dresden to open 5 stores in 18 months: a massive success that’s only thrown more fuel onto the fire when it comes to their plan for worldwide expansion
They’ve been able to start 4 brick and mortar shops in their home country of Australia and to operate a “workshop on wheels” - a mobile trailer they take on the road thanks to Vend’s flexibility and portability.
Vend’s capacity to support different currencies and tax systems also gave Dresden the confidence to open up their business beyond Australia. Using Vend and WooCommerce, Dresden now ships to Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The retailer uses Vend to manage all inventory across its physical, on-the-road, and ecommerce stores, and they don’t have to worry about the back-office tasks that once required manual effort.
As for whether or not they’d recommend Vend to other retailers? Isaac puts it simply: “Yes! Use it!”
“Vend’s functionalities have allowed us to open five shops in 18 months. Installation time for the system has only taken a few hours for each new location. Wunderbar!”
Isaac Sheer, Chief Integrator
