Acer adopts multi-brand approach

THE ACQUISTION OF GATEWAY and the associated capture of Packard Bell will allow Acer to pursue a multi-brand strategy in different worldwide locations, Acer boss Gianfranco Lanci told a gathering here in Madrid today.

As the PC becomes more of a commodity product it makes sense to follow a multi-brand approach, Lanci said. If you look at other commodity markets like the car market, successful companies run multiple brands to address different market segments. Acer will pursue just such a multi-brand approach, Lanci said. In the this market, companies post-acquisition usually subsume acquired brands in order to boost the main brand. Acer won't.

"We will maintain multiple brands we think this will be a winning factor in this industry," he said.

"If you have the same brand on a gaming PC as you have on a gaming PC you will confuse your customer."

Lanci said the thought rival HP had wanted to dump the Compaq brand as quickly as possible but soon realised it was it was impossible. After a couple of years it just came back, he said.

The acquistion of Gateway gives Acer a significant presence in the US market for the first time, the one market the Taiwan-based company has been jealously eyeing for years. The company has historically been strongest in Emea and in Asia.

Gateway is a very well established brand in the US. Packard Bell on the other hand is pretty well known in Europe. Both brands have a stronger presence in desktops which complements Acer's strength in notebooks, Lanci said.

In addition both companies are now 100 per cent indirect, Gateway having famously ditched its attempt to go as direct as Dell.

Analyst Steve Brazier President and CEO of Canalys had earlier told the audience the direct model was dead and unlikely to be revived. "It will not recover," he said. µ