Acer has quietly turned its business around in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. The company has settled down into a strong and consistent execution mode, says MEA director David Drummond, and recently posted a profit after some years of losses.
“2014 was a satisfying year to be working with Acer, to see strong and consistent execution coming through in the results,” he says. “We have seen improvements in the product roadmaps, the introduction of new and innovative products, and good improvement in product cost and time to market.
“The company has stabilised and is back into making a profit.”
The Acer brand performed well across the EMEA region, he says, and particularly in the South African market where it has maintained its traditional number two spot.
There have been major buying shifts around the world, with the traditional PC market hard hit for some years – although Drummond says figures show that consumer PCs are seeing an uptick in sales as hardware pricing lets users take advantage of operating system functionality.
“From a device perspective, with innovative new form factors, the PC is becoming fun again,” he says. “There is still an overall decline in PC market channels across the region, but at 6% it’s not as drastic as in previous years.”
The South Africa market fared much better than the rest of EMEA, he adds, with the consumer channel down 2% year on year.
“From our own experience, the consumer channels in South Africa continued quite strongly in 2014 and we didn’t notice much downturn or fall in demand, although there was a slight change in the mix.”
Commercial channels, on the other hand, were significantly up in 2014 across most of the EMEA region, with the South African education sector performing particularly well.
Across the region, the top four notebook vendors are almost neck and neck, between them taking a 70% market share.
“Acer ranks as number one or two in most countries in the region,” Drummond says. “In South Africa we are number two in the mobility market, with a good market share of 21,2%.
The company has done even better on its Chromebook, with an average 40% market share throughout EMEA and significantly higher in South Africa.
The desktop market is also seeing renewed popularity, particularly with all-in-one products, and Acer shares the number two spot with Lenovo, after HP, in the desktop market.
When it comes to projectors, Acer is still the clear leader in the South African market with a 40% market share.
Drummond says that Acer intends to consolidate its 2014 results in the year ahead, and has a clear product strategy for 2015.
“We are coming into 2015 with a superb product range, lots of innovative form factors, and great machines for the home. We are bringing to market a great range of technology from a one-inch wristband to a 100-inch monitor.
“The market has been asking for these products and we are now able to offer them at the prices people want to pay.”
Among the product directions for 2015 are a focus on gaming hardware as well as a diversity of form factors such an two-in-ones and convertible products.
“We will continue our focus on design, colours and strong local execution, trying stay relevant in the local market,” Drummond says.
There is still a wealth of opportunity in both the consumer and commercial markets, says Acer’s Paul Collins, with about 60 000 PCs in South Africa still running Windows XP.
Collins points out that Acer’s commercial business is channel-led, with products available only through the channel, which allows resellers to build value around them.
Education is a strong focus for Acer’s commercial products and the company already dominates this sector with a 26% market share. The company’s Chromebooks are beginning to find traction the education space, Collins adds.
Although about 1 000 to 2 000 of these products are currently being sold, there is a pipeline for almost 250 000 of them, he says.
Acer is also making a concerted effort to drive new sales into the SADC region which is viewed as a major growth opportunity.
A new push for Acer is in the smartphone market, where the company has launched a number of cost-effective but feature-rich devices – including a three-SIM handset that boasts a three-day battery life.