We Built This City went from pop-up to permanent store with Vend
Watch WE BUILT THIS CITY'S story
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After starting as a Christmas pop-up in Carnaby Street, a popular London shopping destination, We Built This City opened a permanent store selling the best work produced by London’s creative community.
One brick and mortar location on London’s famous Carnaby street plus an online store.
webuilt-thiscity.comAt a Glance
One day of admin time saved per week.
With Vend, We Built This City can:
The Challenge
After a successful few years running pop-up stores, We Built This City knew they would need a new POS system if they wanted their business to take the next step.
Alice Mayor, founder of We Built This City, ventured into retail with a mission − to help London artists find new audiences while offering something exciting to the city’s many tourists looking for souvenirs and gifts.
After the success of their first 3,000 square-foot Christmas pop-up in Carnaby, We Built This City realised they needed a new retail management system. “We had a basic POS and inventory system for our first pop-up,” explains Alice. “But when we took on the next one we knew we needed something more sophisticated in terms of reporting and analytics.”
Because of how many products they sell and how many artists are involved, We Built This City needed an inventory management system that would keep track of every item and easily provide sales information to suppliers. “We also needed a POS that integrated with our payment provider, iZettle, as well as Xero and Shopify,” says Alice, “The integrations were really important as it was key to know that we were choosing a POS that we could build with.”
“There was a huge amount of admin time in our business, so we needed something that would show the information that we needed straight away.”
Alice Mayor, founder
The Solution
We Built This City saw that Vend ticked all the boxes for what they needed in a POS and inventory management system.
Alice soon found that Vend offered the simple yet sophisticated solution the business needed to manage their inventory and reporting. Plus, Vend integrated seamlessly with the business apps they wanted.
The We Built This City team set Vend up themselves a few weeks before the launch of their next pop-up store. “I don’t remember there being any issues,” says Alice. “It was really straightforward, especially considering the breadths of what we needed to get on there.”
“The whole system is very intuitive. It’s super easy.”
Alice Mayor, founder
We Built This City brings their solution together with the best in retail
The Results
Managing products from hundreds of artists, easily viewing how each item’s performing, seamless integration with the world’s best retail partners and one day of admin time saved every week.
As a business that stocks products from around 250 different artists at a time, Vend has made it easy for the team to manage inventory and track the performance of every item. “If I want to quickly see how much we’ve sold of something from the minute it came in, what that equates to per month and how much money that we’ve taken, I can see all of that within three seconds in Vend,” says Alice. “It’s things like that which are lifesavers for us.”
With Vend, We Built This City has been able to fully integrate their business with Xero and iZettle, as well as create a successful Shopify ecommerce store. “Integration-wise, it couldn’t have been easier,” explains Alice. “It blows my mind that you can do all of that in seconds.”
One of the key things that Alice enjoys about Vend is the time it frees up. “We’ve only got one store, but it’s definitely saving us around a day of admin time across the business,” says Alice. This time saved has helped the team be able to focus on their customers and supporting the local creative community they love.
“There are so many features that help us do things so quickly. We’re saving masses of time.”
Alice Mayor, founder
