Discover how Once Upon overcame global influencer payout challenges by partnering with Gigapay, achieving streamlined operations and international compliance.
The challenge
The journey of Once Upon, from its inception to becoming a powerhouse in the photo book industry, is both inspiring and instructive. Lina, the founder of Once Upon, was motivated by a simple yet profound need: to create a tangible photo album for her third child, realizing that all her precious memories were trapped in her phone. This realization led to the birth of Once Upon, a new, innovative way to make photo books easily via an app. Today, with over 4.3 million downloads and availability in over 12 languages, Once Upon has truly globalized, selling books to over 109 countries and establishing print partnerships across the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, and Australia.
However, with growth came significant challenges. Theres Enbuske, the Influencer Marketing Manager at Once Upon, highlighted the issue: "We have between 50-100 collaborations monthly with influencers from various countries. The manual invoicing process used to pay these influencers soon resulted in bottlenecks and compliance headaches for our team."
What we did
Recognizing the need for a scalable and efficient solution, Once Upon turned to Gigapay. Gigapay's solution streamlined the entire payout process, dramatically reducing the administrative burden on Once Upon's team.
Theres Enbuske remarked on the transformation, "Instead of receiving 50-100 invoices per month we just receive a few from Gigapay and we know that the information is accurate.” This not only reduced the time spent on administrative tasks but also significantly mitigated compliance risks associated with international payments.
Enbuske shared her initial reservations about the transition, noting, "Initially I was a bit skeptical,” but soon found that "We were very happily surprised at how easy it was to convince the influencers to receive their payment through Gigapay.”
The outcome
The impact of adopting Gigapay was “a huge difference for finance", says Enbuske. She explained further that they went from "multiple hours spent on paying influencers to not much time at all." This efficiency gain translated into more than just time saved; it enabled Once Upon to reallocate resources toward growth and creative endeavors. Now, the team needs less time to handle payouts, to check that the information they obtain is correct, and reduced back-and-forth interactions, allowing them to focus on "more valuable things like building relationships with influencers, working on more creative projects and scaling up to do more collaborations.”
Looking forward, Once Upon is not just eyeing expansion into the US market but is also poised to explore new influencer platforms like YouTube and TikTok. With Gigapay, Once Upon is well-equipped to handle the increased volume of payouts efficiently, ensuring that they can maintain their focus on innovation, creativity, and global expansion.
