Justin Tye - Managing Director, Exeed
New Zealand value-added distributor Exeed has officially launched in Australia, opening up a new office in Melbourne.
Speaking exclusively to ARN, Exeed Managing Director Justin Tye, confirmed that the new office opened in April, with first order shipments going out of the door on May 17.
To facilitate the move, the Auckland-based distributor has appointed Daniel Harper as General Manager of Australia, overseeing three team members in Victoria.
Drawing on a strong local reputation across the Tasman, Tye said Exeed currently represents Kaiser Baas, Silicon Power, Smaak, Whoosh, Kingsons, Leef, Homido and Trackimo in Australia, with growth and vendor recruitment a top priority going forward.
“We’ve previously resisted moving into Australia because we lacked the right mix of brands and resellers to start up with, but this has now changed,” Tye told ARN.
“We’ve successfully developed our New Zealand business and as that continues to prosper, we believe now is the time to move across the Tasman. We’ve hired a team of four Australians who will be supported in full by the Kiwi team.”
Tye said the catalyst for the move originated from Exeed taking over distribution of one of its agency partners, helping the Kiwi owned and operated company lay the building blocks for future growth in the Australian market.
“From day one we had accounts already in place and a distribution centre that was already operating, so we’re well placed to expand further,” he said.
Initially, Tye said the company will concentrate on “earning its stripes” within the Australian channel, expanding relationships from B to C into B to B markets, while also executing on expansion strategies in the form of either brand acquisition or organic growth.
Since its founding in 2002, Exeed has grown into one of New Zealand’s leading distribution brands, widely respected for its deep expertise and services capability, helping it compete at the larger end of town with flagship vendors.
As a result, the distributor currently partners with best of breed brands such as HP Inc, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Apple, Microsoft and Samsung in New Zealand, providing IT resellers and retailers with tailored products, services and solutions.
“We’re realistic in our expectations but we’re confident in what we bring to the market,” Tye said.
“We believe vendors will have seen how we operate in New Zealand and will appreciate that while we aren’t big, we are flexible and can offer different routes to market.
“We have an appetite for growth in Australia and remain open to acquiring to achieve this.”
Fresh from regaining its Hewlett Packard Enterprise portfolio following the tech giant’s much publicised distribution review in February 2016, the distributor recently secured rights to Sophos and Webroot in New Zealand, while also deepening its ties with Microsoft.
“We’re confident in the people we hire and the business processes and services we provide,” Tye added.
“This forms a crucial part of our DNA and we believe over time this will help us grow our partner and vendor base in Australia, with our systems capable of handling rapid growth.”
