BloomingBox simplifies spend management with Pluto

Unlike conventional gift platforms, BloomingBox stands out with its premium, handcrafted products, allowing customers to tailor their orders. This case study discusses how it uses Pluto to handle expenses while growing its operations in the Middle East.

We can expand without having to add more people because of Pluto.

Lee Kersen Mascarenhas

Introduction

BloomingBox is a home-grown UAE-based online gifting platform specializing in various customized gifts. Unlike conventional gift platforms, it provides personalized gifting options, including flowers, cakes, roses, plants, chocolate boxes, home items, gift hampers, bundle packs, and more. It offers same-day flower delivery to customers in Dubai and has collaborated with renowned international brands and events for customized projects.  

It is a go-to destination for both personal and corporate gifting needs. With reported sales growing from 4,000 gifts in 2018 to 55,000 in 2020, the brand has expanded its headquarters multiple times.

The Challenge: Managing Expenses as a Growing Business

BloomingBox is a growing company, expanding operations in multiple locations. However, being a startup, it faced two core challenges in scaling and managing their expenses:

• Poor cash flow visibility due to manual transactions and bookkeeping
• Delays in the approval process that made reimbursement difficult

Manual Transactions Hampered Bookkeeping and Cash Flow Visibility 

BloomingBox relied on a logbook and manual payment processes for all expenses. As a result, it was difficult to track cash flow. The team members didn’t know when the bills were paid and which ones were due. Moreover, they wanted control over who spent how much on various expense categories. 

For instance, they wanted to restrict the drivers to spend only on fuel. However, tracking expenses with such intricacy with manual processes was difficult. 

Additionally, the team members had to collect and manage all the receipts, and there was a risk of losing receipts. Overall, managing the expenses was hectic and tedious. 

The Solution: Pluto’s Corporate Cards

With Pluto’s corporate cards, both physical and virtual, BloomingBox automated all the payments. They could issue unlimited corporate cards with advanced controls to manage and track expenses. 

The admins could specify the budget and category of expenses for the card, restricting employees to spend dedicated amounts only on designated categories. For instance, they created cards for the drivers with a set specific budget, which could only be used for fuel. 

Further, Pluto simplified receipt management, as each transaction on the card triggered a workflow and notified the employee to upload the receipt. With Pluto’s WhatsApp integration, uploading receipts becomes easy as it only takes a few seconds, even for bulk upload. 

The beauty in one part that I was amazed about Pluto, in terms of your technology, was your whole integration with WhatsApp and the ease of how easy it was to swipe, make a payment, take a picture, upload it via WhatsApp, and it's there on the platform for approval.

Lee Kersen Mascarenhas

The Challenge: Delays in Reimbursement

Before Pluto, the company had a lengthy and tedious process for reimbursements.

It started with someone making a payment and submitting the receipt at the office. This included filling out reimbursement forms and seeking approval from the manager. Depending upon the amount, it could involve more stakeholders. Then, the request was forwarded to the accounting department, which confirmed all details and finally reimbursed the employee. 

The process took days or weeks, depending on the availability of the receipts and relevant stakeholders. The unavailability of a single person created bottlenecks and delayed the entire process.  

The Solution: Pluto’s Employee Reimbursement

With Pluto, BloomingBox automated the approval workflow using the no-code trigger-based approval workflow engine. This helped them save a lot of time in the approvals. 

Instead of employees managing the receipts and seeking approval manually, the stakeholders could immediately approve payments, and employees were reimbursed instantly. BloomingBox could add as many stakeholders as required and create workflows based on simple if-then rules.

Additionally, the team could split transactions for marking parts of receipts out of policy. This facilitated them to approve only a part of the expense and reject parts that didn’t align with company policy. This improved their cash flow without delaying the approval process.  

The beauty is you pay, upload your receipts right away, and approval can be done on the spot.

Lee Kersen Mascarenhas

Single Dashboard for Real-Time Spend Visibility 

Pluto provided Bloomingbox with a centralized platform to track and manage all their expenses in real time. All the awaiting requests, payment approvals, bills, etc., were accessible from a single dashboard.  

As a result, it became easy to clear all the payments on time without running the risk of duplicate payments.    

Save Time by Streamlining Spend Management

Pluto became a time-saver for BloomingBox. It automated the approval process and streamlined the entire spend management process on a single platform. BloomingBox got all the information on a single dashboard. They cleared all the dues much faster, even when multiple approvals were required. 

Apart from visibility, BloomingBox got control over the spending with advanced rules for the corporate cards. This included specifying budgets and categories to avoid maverick spending. 

Moreover, the employees no longer needed to manage physical receipts. They could simply upload a picture via WhatsApp, which was added to the platform. This simplified bookkeeping as all the receipts were already on the platform with dedicated expense information.  

What Has Been Your Favorite Part About Pluto? 

We have been using Pluto for a few months now, and we literally have everything in one place.

Lee Kersen Mascarenhas