SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT
WE never cease to be amazed by the enterprises that are humming along quietly in our city. At the recent Gold Coast Business Awards, local firm HiSmile received the Retail, Wholesale and Distribution Award for their unique teeth whitening products. Directors Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic started with just $20,000 and today have over 50 employees with a turnover of $30 million and growing rapidly. They are currently shipping to more than 100,000 customers worldwide, including. Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner and Conor McGregor.
MERMAID Beach e-tailer HiSmile, which markets teeth-whitening products to young women, is expanding its office space as it seeks to reach $100 million in sales by year’s end.
The business, which has become well known due to its use of celebrities to market products on social media, was founded by Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic in 2014.
It reached $10 million in online sales after 18 months and $50 million after three years. Chief operating officer Justin Gaggino said it expects to reach $100 million in sales by December.
The plan is to have the fitout for 500/sq m of additional office space at the Mermaid Beach Shopping Centre complete before the Christmas sales rush.
It will be a large expansion of its current 1000sq m-plus space, which includes a shooting studio and boardrooms.
“We need the office space to accommodate our growing team,” he said.
“We have 50 staff and we need 100 by the end of the year.
“Currently, we’re in the design phase for the office space, and the fit-out will commence after that.”
HiSmile moved to the Mermaid Beach Shopping Centre, which is situated on the eastern side of the Gold Coast Highway, in July last year following a $300,000 fitout of the space which was formerly home to Dick Smith electronics.
Mr Gaggino said the new space, which is not adjacent to, but one door down from, the current premises, will be used for staff from a number of departments including marketing, customer experience, and administration.
He said HiSmile would be recruiting for staff across all departments.
“We are recruiting now, but coming closer to the sales push in December, that is when we will accelerate that process.”
Mr Mirkovic said 2018 is a big year for the rapidly-expanding company.
“One of the keys to such rapid success has been identifying and understanding our target audience first, then putting our efforts into marketing,” he said.
Mr Mirkovic and Mr Tomic started HiSmile with just $20,000 after seeing a gap in the market for teethwhitening products.
A breakthrough came when reality star Kylie Jenner posted a photo of herself using their device to more than 95 million followers on Instagram.
The products, which include a teeth-whitening kit with gels and LED light, are sold worldwide into countries including the US, the UK and Canada.