PRISM+ saves approximately S$20,000 a month with WorldFirst

By paying its overseas suppliers typically within 24 hours, and converting currency at about 0.3% per transaction, the Singapore electronics brand has kept its prices low while expanding into three new markets. It now puts the approximately S$20,000 it saves each month straight back into the business.

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PRISM+ is a Singapore consumer electronics brand, founded in 2017 to sell high-performance computer monitors direct to gamers at an affordable price. It now sells TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators, laundry machines, vacuums and smart locks, to more than 800,000 households across Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and the Philippines via eight retail stores and online channels.

Consumer electronics

Singapore

500+ employees

S$20,000

saved a month on international payments, approximately. Conversion at about 0.3% per transaction applies to every stock order, in every market.

2017

founded in Singapore

S$110M

annual revenue (FY to Mar 2024)

Introducing PRISM+: premium technology at an affordable price

In 2017, six Singaporeans invested their savings into creating a gaming monitor. At the time, a high-performance monitor sold for $800 to $900, much of which went to intermediaries, distributors, and the retailers sitting between the factory and the buyer. PRISM+ cut them out and sold direct, without compromising on quality.

Since then, they've grown into one of Singapore's most recognised consumer electronics brands with a range covering TVs, ceiling fans, air conditioners, air purifiers, refrigerators, laundry machines, cordless vacuums, and smart digital locks. More than 800,000 households buy from the brand, through retail stores in Singapore, Shopee and TikTok Shop livestreams, and its own web store.

But when PRISM+ started expanding into Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines, it hit some roadblocks. Its products are made by manufacturers overseas, so every unit of stock means an international payment. And each new market needed its own stock in place before launch, so the amount PRISM+ had to pay out upfront grew with every country it entered.

“As we grew, our payments infrastructure had to keep up. Expanding overseas has its fair share of challenges. Financially, a key hurdle was balancing competitive pricing with the significant upfront investment and international transaction costs required to build inventory and enter new markets.”

Jonathan Wong

Chief Executive Officer, PRISM+

The challenge: growth outpacing a slow, costly payments set-up

Moving from monitors into appliances changed the economics of the business.

Four markets to stock, all of it paid for upfront

A monitor ships flat and stacks in a warehouse. A refrigerator or an air conditioner takes floor space, arrives with installation and servicing attached, and costs considerably more to hold. Every unit still had to be ordered, paid for, shipped, and warehoused before a customer saw it, and now in four markets at once.

That put a lot of cash in transit at any given moment, with PRISM+ paying suppliers overseas months before the customers buying that stock paid PRISM+.

International transaction costs and two-day payments

Before WorldFirst, each supplier payment took two days to reach the supplier, and the finance team spent roughly three hours on every one, setting it up, sending it, and chasing it. Sitting on top of the wait was the transaction cost itself, charged on money already committed to stock nobody had bought yet.

PRISM+ was competing on price against brands with decades of scale behind them, so every dollar it lost on payments came straight out of the margin that kept its prices low.

WorldFirst Business

Open the account PRISM+ runs on. Hold 20+ currencies and get cashback on card spend.

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The solution: one account for supplier payments and FX

PRISM+ needed a payments partner that could keep up with four markets' worth of supplier payments, without the two-day wait or the transaction costs eating into its margin. It chose WorldFirst, which gives businesses that trade across borders one account to receive, hold, convert, and pay out money in multiple currencies.

PRISM+ opened a World Account, WorldFirst's multi-currency business account, and now pays every overseas supplier from it.

Supplier payments that typically settle within 24 hours

Because the World Account holds and pays out in multiple currencies, one account covers all four markets. Supplier payments now typically arrive within 24 hours, down from two days, and the three hours lost to payment admin on each transfer now go into more constructive finance activities. Despite a supplier list that grows with every new product category, a finance team of the same size now comfortably handles four countries where it once handled one.

“In our mission to provide premium technology to all, choosing the right supplier who shares this mission is absolutely the most important thing. Our payments infrastructure had to keep up with our growth, and that's why we chose WorldFirst.”

Jonathan Wong

Chief Executive Officer, PRISM+

Competitive FX built into every payment

Before WorldFirst, PRISM+ converted currency as a separate step with its previous provider, at whatever rate was on offer that day, with transaction fees on top. Now it converts currency as part of each supplier payment, and pays about 0.3% above the market exchange rate. On every $10,000 it converts, that costs about $30. This matters because PRISM+ competes on price. Its 2019 breakthrough was a $599 television, less than half the price of similar TVs from major brands. Lower payment costs let PRISM+ keep its profit margin on every product without raising prices for its customers.

The result: approximately S$20,000 a month back in the business

PRISM+ built its business by selling directly to customers, so it did not have to pay distributors or retailers. Now it has also cut the cost of paying its suppliers.

S$20,000

saved a month on international payments, approximately

Conversion at about 0.3% per transaction applies to every stock order, in every market.

1 day

Supplier payments typically settle in one day, down from two

WorldFirst handles the international leg, so orders clear a day earlier and stock moves sooner.

3 hours

saved per transaction

Fewer manual steps on every payment, across a supplier list that keeps growing.

4 markets

paid through one account

Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and the Philippines funded through a single login.

“WorldFirst really simplified international payments for us. They accelerated our supplier payments and saved us a huge amount of time. This efficiency has been crucial in our growth.”

Jonathan Wong

Chief Executive Officer, PRISM+

None of that money sits still. It goes back into stock, into new categories, and it protects the margins that lets PRISM+ keep its retail prices low. The strategy is working: appliances, a category the company did not sell at all until 2022, now bring in more than half of its Singapore revenue.

PRISM+ is going deeper into the four markets it has, pulling every device it sells into one smart home system, and the payments behind that expansion move as quickly as the company does.

Consumer electronics

Singapore

500+ employees

WorldFirst features used

World Account

Open a free account

Products in this story

World Account

One multi-currency account to collect, hold and pay in 20+ currencies.

Who We Are >

PRISM+ saves approximately S$20,000 a month with WorldFirst

S$110M

annual revenue (FY to Mar 2024)

WorldFirst Business

PRISM+ is going deeper into the four markets it has, pulling every device it sells into one smart home system, and the payments behind that expansion move as quickly as the company does.

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