Independent digital agency Next&Co has been appointed to lead the SEO strategy for two arms of leading Australian ecommerce business New Aim, as the company continues its expansion into the Asia-Pacific market.
Next&Co will work on SEO for New Aim’s online furniture brand Artiss and its B2B marketplace Dropshipzone, following a competitive pitch process facilitated by marketing consultancy Hustle.
New Aim head of brand, John Barkle, said: “We are thrilled to appoint Next&Co following a comprehensive pitch process. I had a very specific idea of the kind of agency I was looking for. I am not a fan of the archaic agency/client relationship model and fortunately neither was Next&Co. They needed to be able to see the size of the opportunity in Dropshipzone and be as genuinely excited as we are about its potential for Aussie SMEs.
“They needed to combine that excitement with a best-in-class SEO strategy. In John Vlasakakis, Nick Grinberg and their team of superstars, Next&Co ticked all of our boxes and will become valued members of the team as we share the ownership of growing the Artiss and Dropshipzone brands.”
New Aim Head of Brand John Barkle
Headquartered in Melbourne, New Aim has 100,000sqm of warehouse space across nine local facilities, shipping more than four million products in FY21 alone. In 2022, New Aim was recognised by the Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing companies in the Asia-Pacific for the third consecutive year and was previously ranked among Australia’s top 500 private companies by the Australian Financial Review. In 2019, co-founder Fung Lam was named Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Artiss is one of New Aim’s home décor brands, selling furniture to a one-stop online shop, offering a range of products across living, dining, bedroom, home office, storage and more.
New Aim’s B2B marketplace Dropshipzone is designed to enable SMEs to start and scale their ecommerce offering. Established in 2012, the platform has evolved into a B2B marketplace enabling Aussie retailers to dropship from local suppliers.
Retailers on Dropshipzone can scale without investing in warehousing or logistics, and without the hassle of managing inventory, packaging, or shipping. Suppliers on Dropshipzone get instant access to a network of thousands of retailers to sell their product range.
Next&Co co-founder, John Vlasakakis, said: “We are thrilled to be working with the New Aim team, particularly at such an exciting time for their business. Their recent expansion into the New Zealand market is indicative of their innovative offering and ability to provide real solutions for SMEs through to well-established, large-scale Australian brands. We will bring our expertise in search and conversion optimisation and media strategy to the next phase of their growth.”
John Vlasakakis Next and Co
Hustle Director, Edward Wormsley, who connects brands with independent agencies, said: “Hustle ran a competitive pitch process, and we were delighted at the enthusiasm and responses from all agencies involved in the process. Next&Co was selected to be part of the pitch process given their merit and deep experience in SEO. We’re extremely happy to have facilitated the successful introduction to New Aim and we look forward to seeing the partnership grow.”
–
Top image: Artiss