'Retail, but not retail': How Zeller Streamlines Payments for Unique Commercial Gallery in.cube8r

First opened in 2022, Awaken Pilates and Yoga is a boutique fitness business that has already grown to three locations across Perth’s northern corridor – Yanchep, Ashby, and Mindarie. Founded by husband and wife duo Matthew and Gemma Taylor, the studios offer a mix of reformer Pilates, mat Pilates, yoga, meditation, and infrared sauna. We sat down with Matthew to learn the story behind the business and how Zeller has been able to play a small but positive role in its impressive growth. Building a boutique fitness community. “My wife and I have been involved in the fitness industry for almost 20 years now,” Matthew explains. “About three years ago, we started Awaken, a chain of boutique Pilates studios. We do everything from reformer Pilates to yoga and meditation, so we’re a fitness and wellbeing business.” Beyond instructor-led classes, Awaken offers 24/7 access so members can train independently. “We’re one of only a few in the country who do it,” Matthew says. “People get a 24/7 tag just like a gym. We’ve got screens set up where they can do on-demand classes, and the sauna is 24/7 as well.” At its core, Awaken aims to help members build a stronger connection with themselves, physically and mentally. “What we’re trying to achieve with the members is getting them to fall in love with fitness and focus on themselves,” Matthew says. “We’ve seen over the years how powerful it can be to have a positive relationship with yourself from a wellbeing perspective.” Making retail sales effortless with Zeller POS Lite. While most of Awaken’s revenue comes from membership fees billed weekly through their CRM system, retail sales (like grippy socks, apparel and protein powder) also provide an important secondary revenue stream to the business. Managing these sales efficiently, however, was a little tricky – until Awaken introduced Zeller POS Lite across all three studios. “A lot of our instructors are contractors who work across different studios.” Matthew explains. “So we needed a system that was super intuitive with no real training involved. Zeller POS Lite couldn’t be simpler. When someone wants to buy socks or some protein, the instructor just clicks on an image and it comes up straight away on the machine. They don’t have to work the computer or any sort of complicated point-of-sale system.” Stretching sales while reducing admin. The simplified sales process has made instructors more confident in processing transactions, leading to an increase in retail purchases. “Having that visual point-of-sale system on the EFTPOS machine itself just makes it a lot easier,” Matthew says. “Because it’s so easy to use, we find that the instructors are much more confident in selling the product for us instead of avoiding it because they don’t know how to use the machine or they don’t know the pricing of the product.” When the end of the month draws near, Zeller POS Lite’s in-built reporting function proves very useful. “We utilise the reporting function to gain a deeper insight into how our retail products are performing, what products are resonating with our members and where to better invest in our product offering for the future at each studio. This allows us to maximise the efficiency of our product management and also helps drive our marketing with relation to our retail products,” explains Matthew. Switching from Commbank to Zeller. Before switching to Zeller, Awaken used Commonwealth Bank terminals, but the fees and complex pricing structure quickly became a frustration. “I would never set up another business with a traditional bank again, because you’re paying a monthly fee and then all of your costs on top of that when you go above a certain amount. It actually is just a lot easier to have something like Zeller, which takes a little percentage on each transaction and has a nice, easy portal to navigate.” Beyond transaction fees, Matthew also found the process of upgrading or canceling bank terminals unnecessarily difficult and expensive. “They make it so hard for you,” he says. “You’ve got to pay for someone to collect it and all this sort of stuff. There’s fees and charges all the way through the journey.” A flexible, scalable solution. With transparent pricing, ease of use and a seamless experience for both instructors and members, Zeller POS Lite has helped Awaken eliminate banking frustrations while streamlining their operations. “We’ve got it sectioned into three categories – merchandise, casual sales, and supplements,” Matthew says. “It’s so simple for the instructors to navigate that, it works perfectly.” By choosing Zeller POS Lite, Awaken Pilates and Yoga has found a flexible solution that strikes the perfect balance between simplifying sales, empowering staff, and supporting business growth.

What began as a creative outlet during Melbourne’s 2020 COVID lockdowns has now evolved into a thriving – and award-winning – distillery for Gavin and Amy Shaw. From their picturesque five-acre property in Plenty, Victoria, the father-daughter duo have grown Hillmartin Gin to now be stocked in over 120 bars, restaurants and pubs around Melbourne. A seven spiced chai gin? A single vineyard pinot noir gin? Why not! Gavin and Amy are on a mission to make everyone a gin lover. A serendipitous start. When Gavin Shaw was chatting with one of his friends on the phone during COVID, he didn’t realise he was about to take the first step towards a dramatic career change. Despite a background in science and a passion for good food and good drinks, the idea of creating a gin brand wasn’t really on Gavin’s radar to begin with. “The business started off really as a hobby,” he recalls. “Prior to Hillmartin Gin, I had another business, and it meant I traveled a lot. When COVID hit and we couldn’t travel, I was spending a lot more time at home and looking for a way to keep busy.” Gavin’s passion for crafting unique gins started to take shape during a conversation with a friend. “I was lamenting the fact that if I were to plant grapes with the intention of making wine, I’d be dead before I made anything decent,” he laughs. “And my mate said, ‘Why don’t you buy a gin still? You can run it in the morning and drink the gin in the afternoon if you want.’ What a great idea, I thought. Because who doesn’t love a good gin?” Once he’d acquired his shiny new still, Gavin started out experimenting with different botanicals in the family shed, but admits his first few batches weren’t to everyone’s taste. “I was thinking I was making fabulous gin and Amy told me I was going to kill somebody. Thankfully, it’s come a long way since then.” A family affair. With a background in finance and digital customer acquisition, Amy was busy working in the corporate world until a less-than-polished Instagram post made her realise her father needed her marketing assistance. “Before Amy joined, I did a post on Instagram one day, and I reckon about three seconds later the phone rang,” Gavin chuckles. “Amy said, ‘Dad, I have a plan. Step away from the computer. I’ll handle the Instagram from now on.’ So I’ve left it to her since then. She pretty much runs the business these days. I just make gin and do what I’m told.” Crafting excellence. Hillmartin Gin has made its mark on Australia’s spirits scene with a lineup of gins that range from timeless classics to contemporary twists and unique innovations. For example, The Seven Spice Chai Gin combines traditional botanicals with warming spices to create a one-of-a-kind blend that’s smooth and aromatic. “Instead of milk like you’d have in a chai latte, we finish it off with a wildflower honey. It really does taste like chai,” explains Gavin. Gavin and Amy’s dedication to quality and innovation has now earned them national and international recognition. “Last year, our Seven Spice Chai Gin was judged Australia’s Best Contemporary Gin at the World Gin Awards in London,” Gavin says. “We also picked up gold for our London Dry Gin at the same event the previous year. That was a bit of a shock to us – it’s a big award to win.” Work hard, play hard. Building a brand in the craft spirits industry is no small feat, and Gavin and Amy have embraced the challenges head on. “You work really hard,” Gavin says. “Starting out, it’s almost hard not to work seven days a week in this industry because a lot of the promotional stuff is on weekends. So throughout the week, we’re making gin and running the business, and on weekends, we’re often at food and wine shows, gin shows, markets, promotional events, you name it. Good thing it’s a really fun industry. We’re fortunate to call our passion our profession.” To help manage the workload, Gavin and Amy have recently expanded the team. “We’ve hired a full-time sales rep and someone to do the markets for us,” Gavin shares. “You can’t work seven days forever. It’s important to get a break.” Smiling and saving with Zeller. From humble experiments in the backyard shed to now winning international awards and being stocked all over Victoria, Hillmartin Gin’s growth has been exceptional. Alongside this expansion came the need for efficient systems to keep the payments side of things running smoothly. “We were using a competitor for payment processing, but Amy came back from an event one day and said, ‘Hey Dad, one of the other vendors said he’s paying much lower fees than we are. We should look into it.’ That’s when we switched to Zeller,” Gavin explains. “The fees are significantly lower, and the terminals are very easy to use, so it’s a win-win.”

Mother Mary is a one-woman baking powerhouse based an hour south of Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula, cooking up cakes, crackers, biscuits, granola and more for her loyal fans and stockists. Wherever possible, Mother Mary Bakes opts for locally-grown produce and organic ingredients in all her products, delivering them across the peninsula several times a week. In addition to her mouth watering baked goods, Mother Mary also runs semi-regular baking workshops, often with a focus on the fine art of sourdough. We sat down with the founder of Mother Mary to learn about her business and why she switched her business banking from Westpac to Zeller. What’s the story behind Mother Mary? “Well, I should probably start by saying that my name is actually Hannah, not Mary. It was my grandmother Mary who got me into baking, and the business is named after her. When I was a teenager, nan and I would bake up all her old family recipes that had been handed down from her mother, and that’s when I fell in love with baking. I started the business as a bit of a hobby-slash-side-hustle with my cousin who also loves baking, and the thing that connects us both – as well as being great friends – is our grandmother, so when the name was first suggested, it just felt right. After several successful stalls at local markets, I decided to make Mother Mary my full time business. My cousin lives too far away for it to be a full time thing for her, but she’s always more than happy to do some taste-testing whenever she visits.” How did you set up the business? “Once we had our brand name in place, we got an ABN and headed off to our first market stall with a car packed full of goodies we’d baked in mum’s kitchen, a fold out trestle table and a metal cash box, thinking everyone would be paying in cash – but that didn’t last long at all. We quickly realised that less than half of our customers were carrying cash, but luckily most were happy to pay into my personal Westpac account using PayId on their phone. It wasn’t ideal, but it was workable temporarily. We noticed many other stallholders were using mobile EFTPOS readers, so we bought one of those pretty much straight away, although it wasn’t a Zeller one. It only took a few stalls for me to realise mum’s kitchen wasn’t going to be big enough if I wanted to make Mother Mary a full-time gig, and mum very kindly offered me the use of a shed at her place, suggesting I could turn it into a dedicated bakery. My partner is an electrician and lots of his mates are tradies too, so it wasn’t long until we’d connected power to the shed, added plumbing, plastered and painted the place, and fitted it out with ovens, benches, fridges and other equipment from Facebook Marketplace. So in a few months, the business grew from mum’s kitchen and a cash tin to a purpose-built bakery with a website and a way to take card payments. It stopped feeling like a hobby and instead felt like a proper business – it was very exciting. A few months later, tax time rolled around, so I connected with a friend-of-a-friend who’s an accountant. They were very encouraging about the business in general, but not overly delighted about the fact the business finances were mixed in with my personal finances.” You mentioned Westpac. What made you switch to Zeller? “Well, despite my accountant not being thrilled with it, I continued running the money side of the business via my personal Westpac account for a couple more years because…I guess I just didn’t have the time or energy to go into the bank and set up a business bank account . I know that sounds silly, but when you’re running a small business, standing in line at the bank with a million pieces of paperwork just isn’t appealing…so I put it off. Then a couple of years ago, a friend showed me her Zeller Account on her phone. I noticed there was money in the account, and I asked her which bank she was with. I thought the app was somehow showing her balance from her bank account. She explained that Zeller has its own transaction account built in, so you literally don’t need a traditional business bank account. Then she showed me her Zeller Terminal, which was much better looking than my old EFTPOS machine , and I thought, ok, this seems like a better solution, and it will make my accountant happy having things separate, so I downloaded the Zeller App then and there.” What’s your favourite part of the Zeller product suite? “I love that it’s an all-in-one solution, so I don’t need to be switching between multiple apps or tabs – it’s all in one place. As far as what’s my favourite part, well, I guess I switched to Zeller for the transaction account originally, then when I got the Zeller Terminal, I realised the transaction fees are a fair bit lower than what I’d had, and that was nice too. Another good part is the Zeller Debit Card . It means whenever I buy ingredients or petrol for the delivery van or anything else for the business, I just use that card and it’s immediately visible in my Zeller account, so it makes tracking my spending very easy. Virtual Terminal is also brilliant for taking orders over the phone, and I can send out payment links and invoices from the dashboard. Plus the business earns interest on its savings with the Zeller Savings Account. When you add it all together, it’s an all-in-one solution that does absolutely everything I could want it to and more. It’s so much better than what I had before.” What advice would you give to other small business owners considering switching? “Well, one thing I can say is that I absolutely detest paperwork, so the fact I could sign up for a  Zeller account without having to visit a bank branch or fill out any painful forms was a big plus. It was very easy to switch, it made my accountant happy, the tech is excellent…so my advice would be to just do it. When you run a small business, time is money, so I understand people thinking it’s easier to just stick with what you’ve got. But with the cheaper fees, the debit card, savings account, virtual terminal, invoices and everything else built into an all-in-one solution, it’s a no-brainer.”