When it comes to retailing, we want our customers to be able to sell anything, any time, anywhere.  And so for Craig Love, owner of Easy Gardener, Tradevine combined with Xero is a perfect fit.

Craig sells great quality log splitters, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, generators etc, on Trade Me, on-line and at A&P shows. So he needed a business solution that works literally everywhere.

Craig was at the recent Southern Field Days, in Waimumu, with his trusty iPad and 3G dongle.  With real-time access to Tradevine and Xero he had access to up to date inventory, all his financials and could process new sales whilst face-to-face with the customer. He could also keep an eye on his Trade Me listings, his bank account and see what was happening back at base in Blenheim.  Being out of the ‘office’ has never been this easy.

By using Tradevine, Craig, can manage his entire business – his sales, purchases, inventory, Trade Me listings,webstore,  feedback and questions, and coupled with Xero his accounting. Simple and easy.

Craig’s recent testimonial says it all…

“Time is the most valued asset in my business. Working for myself I have to manage importing of goods, Trademe Listings, Trademe orders, accounts, customers, and dispatching of goods. Tradevine is my one stop shop for TOTAL management of my entire business. At a glance I can see our Total sales, profit, and orders to process. What I like is that Tradevine is fully integrated with Xero accounting, no duplication of data is ever needed, it simply creates customer invoices for you.

Tradevine’s support is the best I have come across in 12 years working online, they actually help you with any queries you may have. I am looking forward to the future with Tradevine and for what’s in store in the coming months ahead.

Really, switching to Tradevine is a no brainer – Go Tradevine!”.

To find out how Tradevine and Xero can help your retail business contact us on support@tradevine.co.nz

Tradevine and Craig in a field…

Today is the first anniversary of the devastating Christchurch earthquake that claimed the lives of 185.

February 22nd 2011 started like any other normal day for us. Our offices were in the old harbourmasters building in Lyttelton. There was nothing out of the ordinary as we worked away, coders coding, BAs BA’ing, testers testing, and bosses drinking coffee.

Then suddenly the earth shook violently. This wasn’t any ordinary aftershock, we had experienced hundreds after the September quake, but this was different, this was massive.

The building moved as it had never before, it heaved under the strain. In the split second as the shaking starts, people catch each others’ eyes, thinking will it stop or do we need to take cover.  The ceiling panels started falling, take cover it is. As people dived under desks, aircon units crashed off the wall, computer monitors literally flew sideways from desks.  We were right at the epicentre, but we didn’t know that yet. Power was out, alarms were ringing all around us, and the air was thick with settlling dust.

As we ran into the street we could see our building, along with what appeared to be every other building in the street was destroyed or severely damaged.  Later, as we struggled over the Port Hills, we looked down on our home city, the collapsed buildings, the streets under water, carnage everywhere.  We knew that things would never be the same.

In the weeks that followed the tenacity, ingenuity, resilience and generosity of the people of New Zealand, and the world shone through.  First with the rescue and now with the extensive recovery.

Our office was gone, but within a week we were writing code again and offers of help poured in from our friends, customers and strangers throughout the land. Thank you New Zealand.

Despite all of the personal issues, like trashed homes, kids losing schools, not having running water, and constant aftershocks (10,000+ and counting) our staff coped magnificently and Tradevine was launched in November, one month behind schedule.

We are the lucky ones, possessions are replaceable. To all those who lost their lives, we grieve for your untimely loss. For all those who were injured, we hope for a speedy mend, and for all in Christchurch whose lives have changed irrevocably in that instant, we stand together with you, as we rebuild our city and lives, together.

Kia Kaha

Crushed car. Our building in the background.

Directly across the road from the office. (note: the road had to be cleared of rubble, by hand, to allow emergency vehicles through)

Photos courtesy of Phil Styler.

We held a prize draw from attendees of the conference, who threw their business cards into a bowl. Congratulations to Michael McCook, who won a Cruz Tablet – we hope you enjoy this fabulous prize. A special thanks to Charlotte Hinton from Xero, who drew the lucky business card.

Charlotte draws the prize winner

Tradevine, add-on partner to Xero, was an exhibiting sponsor at the Xerocon 2012, hosted at the beautiful Auckland Viaduct Events Centre.  Tradevine has integrated with Xero, beautiful accounting software, to handle all the financial transactions for a complete back office solution. With 400 accountants from around New Zealand attending, Peter, Phil and Sandy were on hand to promote Tradevine.

We enjoyed listening to the speakers during the conference. There was a great keynote speech by Rod Drury where he announced WorkflowMax had been acquired, followed by some updates from the Xero Product Managers.  I am sure there was not a dry eye in the audience when Dave Jessop (DJCA) , gave his talk around midday, which included a personal account of the earthquake, and the effect it had on his business. Key from the discussion is how the cloud enables business continuity.  Well done to DJCA, who won Xero’s Partner of the Year award later on that evening.

All of us attended the Gala Dinner in the evening. With some drinking, a fine dinner and dancing into the night, a fun time was had by all. Well done to all the nominated practises and add-on partners, and winners on the night.   We look forward to Xerocon 2013.

Our Xerocon stand

Tradevine will be at this year’s Xerocon being held in Auckland. We’ll be performing live demonstrations and offering Q&A sessions so be sure to come along and check us out.

Date

Friday 3rd February

Time

8:00am – 5:00pm

Location

Viaduct Events Centre
161 Halsey Street
Viaduct Basin, Auckland

 

We look forward to meeting old and new friends.