Premium Italian Footwear Distribution
“We’d been using the same software for 25 years,” says Ed Lenders, Director of Bene Footwear. “Eventually, it stopped keeping up with us.”
“We’d been using the same software for 25 years,” says Ed Lenders, Director of Bene Footwear. “Eventually, it stopped keeping up with us.”
Founded in 1991 in Upper Hutt, Bene Footwear began as a small safety and first aid supply store before evolving into a nationwide wholesale distributor. Today, they bring high-quality European footwear brands - Andrew Footwear, Grisport, and Crispi - to customers across New Zealand through a network of dedicated distributors.
For decades, their operations were built on handwritten invoices, manual statements, and a locally hosted system that had once felt reliable. But over time, that “on-premise” software became slow, inflexible, and increasingly expensive.
“They changed from being a flexible, personal company to a corporate company,” Ed explains. “Every upgrade made the system harder to use and more costly to maintain.”
Frustration grew. The team needed software that could handle stock control, order management, and B2B distribution all without the heavy maintenance costs.
“We spent two years looking for a replacement,” says Ed. “We wanted something cloud-based, modern, and built for wholesale. Nothing quite fit - until we found Tidy.”
Bene Footwear discovered TidyStock, a cloud-based inventory management solution that integrates seamlessly with Xero. From the start, the team at Tidy stood out.“At first, Tidy couldn’t do everything we needed,” Ed recalls. “But their attitude was great. They listened, adapted, and delivered what we asked for. Plus, being New Zealand-based gave us confidence we’d get the right support.”
After extensive research and testing, Bene Footwear switched from their legacy system to TidyStock. It quickly became the backbone of their operations - managing orders, tracking stock across multiple locations, and keeping every transaction in sync with Xero.
While stock control was now running smoothly, another challenge remained - their B2B website. Built years earlier to work with their old system, it had become slow, fragile, and expensive.
“It was never designed to be a proper e-commerce platform,” Ed says. “It cost a fortune to run and relied on patches to stay functional.”
After an unsuccessful rebuild with a large European platform, Bene Footwear turned again to Tidy - this time for Tidy Commerce, the e-commerce solution that connects directly with TidyStock.
“I got talking with Daryl, and given our tight timeline and budget, we decided to rebuild with TidyCommerce,” Ed explains. “The package Tidy offered was unbelievably good. Daryl and Alice really looked after us.”
Tidy’s web developer Alice Holloway led the project. “Once I connected to Bene’s TidyStock account, all the customer data, price tiers, and products synced instantly,” she says.
“We connected the API, transferred the data, and the site was ready to test. The whole process took about two weeks.”
The new B2B portal became the final piece of the puzzle, connecting customers, stock, and accounting in one smooth workflow. Each distributor now has their own secure login and pricing access. They can view live stock levels, place orders directly through the portal, and see updates in real time. As soon as an order is placed, it syncs automatically with Tidy Stock, updates inventory, and pushes through to Xero for invoicing. There is no rekeying, no delays, and no errors.
“We wanted a B2B platform our customers would actually enjoy using,” Ed says. “We listened to their feedback, and now they love it.”
TidyCommerce gives customers a fast, accurate way to place orders online. Prices, product availability, and account terms are all pulled directly from TidyStock in real time, so distributors always see what’s in stock and what’s on order.
Tidy Stock lets you manage multiple warehouses or stock locations from one dashboard.See what’s available and where, transfer stock seamlessly, and keep every branch operating from the same live inventory data.
From handwritten invoices to a fully connected cloud ecosystem, Bene Footwear’s journey shows the power of integration done right.“It’s been transformative,” Ed says. “TidyCommerce and TidyStock work perfectly together.
Orders, stock, and accounts all talk to each other automatically. We’re faster, more accurate, and our customers are happier.”For Bene Footwear, the partnership with Tidy has delivered more than efficiency. It has created a connected foundation for long-term growth.
