Packard Bell eyes growing sales

Dubai: Packard Bell, part of Acer group, expects a more than 300 per cent increase in sales of notebooks and netbooks in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa region this year, said a top official.

"We expect to sell 250,000 units of notebooks and netbooks this year compared to 60,000 units last year, after having undergone an incredible makeover as part of the group's multi-brand strategy," said Emmanuelle Fromont, EMEA vice-president of Packard Bell.

He said Acer's multi-brand strategy has clearly been shown to be working well. The strategy involves positioning of different products for different customer sensibilities and this has been achieved. The next step for the group is to focus on each brand separately and increasing its market share as part of its expansion plan.

In 2008, Packard Bell was acquired by Taiwan-based Acer and the combined entities are now the third-largest PC company in the world.

"Today PC has become a commodity. While there remain a lot of PC consumers who are keen on technological aspects, a new crop of users is emerging which is not impressed by the technical aspects of the product but has sensibilities towards other factors as look and feel, design, style, overall brand experience.

"Given that users are having diverse ways of looking at the functions and their impact on their lifestyles, it is imperative that the design and development of the product takes into account these expectations and desires," Fromont said.

He said computers are now part of everyday life, like mobile phones. Hence, from a very "rational" base, the buying decisions can now be more "emotional". These are customers coming from all walks of life, mostly young and even "trendy and stylish".

"We don't see netbooks replacing notebooks. The notebook market is expected to keep growing. We see notebooks and netbooks as two different categories. The netbook category has brought in additional consumers and a new kind of user in the market," he said.