After a five year sabbatical, Acer Computer has muscled its way back into Harvey Norman stores, signing a deal with the big retailer to sell its range of Aspire and TravelMate PC and notebook products.
Acer separated from Harvey Norman in 1998 after it decided to focus more heavily on SME and education sales. However, the company is stepping up its retail presence as it aims to get to a dominant position in that market as part of its plan to become the number one PC vendor in all market segments in Australia by 2007.
Greg Mikaelian, regional channel manager at Acer Computer Australia, said Harvey Norman sees Acer as a vehicle to take the battle to DELL and IBM. He claimed that Acer would also be helped along by past uncertainty over the HP/Compaq merger and IBM's decision to pull out of the retail market at the end of 2001. “They [Harvey Norman] needed a branded vendor with a high level of flexibility,” said Mikaelian.
Over the next two weeks, Acer will begin to deploy build-your-own (BYO) configuration kiosks at Harvey Norman stores. Acer boss Charles Chung said both companies had been in discussions for the past 18 months.
Under the BYO concept – which already exists at David Jones stores around Australia – buyers can configure their own PC. Orders are placed directly onto Acer and shipped to Harvey Norman for the customer to pick up, Chung said. Acer wants to reach 150 Harvey Norman stores around Australia with the concept.
Harvey Norman joins the likes of Leading Edge, Retravision and David Jones on Acer's retail books. Sales through retailers made up around 12 percent of Acer's total channel business in Australia in 2002.
Mikaelian said Acer expected to grow its retail business by around 50 percent this year. The company has engaged The Marketing Department Group (TMD) to promote the Acer brand on the floor inside the retailer, Mikaelian said.