Exeed is gearing up for move into a new distribution facility in what could be the last warehouse expansion required as its cloud and annuity business ramps up.
The new facility in Highbrook is double the size of Exeed's current 1400m2 Penrose warehouse, providing the distributor with ‘more breathing room' for some of its agencies were big boxes are still the order of the day, says Justin Tye, Exeed managing director.
“It's a facility I think will last us for the long term,” Tye says.
“Boxes are getting smaller, we're doing more in the cloud. I think the changing face of distribution will be a reflection of whether or not companies need ever increasing warehouses.
Tye says recent Kiwi growth for the company has been solid, but notes ‘it's always difficult when you get larger to try and achieve the same numbers you did when you were smaller'.
“I'm pretty proud of the results we're getting out of the business at present,” he says.
Tye says the annuity business in particular is growing ‘very strongly'.
“It's probably the standout of our business in New Zealand at the moment. That whole category is just growing and growing and growing. I don't see it stopping and it will be a fair chunk of our revenue in years to come,” he says.
The distributor has onboarded several new cloud focused offerings in recent months, including BitTitan and Fusionworks integration products for Microsoft CSP.
“They are a continuation of the acquisition of agencies for annuity around cloud to complement what we do with Office 365,” Tye says.
“They're integration tools and migration tools for things like CRM, Exchange. There's even Azure migration tools that are starting to appear.
“We're trying to stay at the forefront of all that to remain relevant to the world of cloud.
Meanwhile, the company's Australian foray is already reaping returns – both in Australia, where the distie is already trading with most of the country's major retailers just five months into operations, and in New Zealand, where the Exeed's Australian category creation efforts are spilling over into the Kiwi channel.
The Australian Exeed business – which is expected to account for more than 5% of Exeed's overall turnover within 12 months – is focused on the retail market and accessory agencies.
“The competencies we're building up in that business are understanding what is relevant to retailers and consumers that is new, that can be presented to them as a category which Exeed has real strength in,” Tye says.
“We see that as how we are going to build a differentiated advantage in the Australian market and we're not just seen as a me-to.
A key focus for Exeed in Australia is category creation around the internet of things.
The distributor has just added three new agencies – Tile Mate, Ring and Pebble – to its portfolio, with the offerings also available in New Zealand.
Ring is a security offering providing integrated video, doorbell and alarm system managed via a mobile device.
“It's got a lot of relevance and it's part of the Internet of things foray that we're making into Australia,” Tye says.
“Aussie is the beachhead for our strategy and New Zealand is benefiting from it because we obviously get the rights to distribute into New Zealand as well in most, if not all, cases.
“They're quite nice products in terms of category creation for retail and I think they see distribution as providing a tangible benefit to them in that area because they get better foot traffic through the stores, they've got something new to sell, often they aren't particularly expensive products, but they're good margin for the retailers so they can be sold as an add-on in store, or an accessory to an an Apple or phone sale.