Acer, the global ICT products and solutions firm, intends to grow by 30 to 35% in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region over the coming year. According to Giuseppe Mastandrea, the newly appointed regional director of the firm, the market is expected to grow at 26% and the company has set itself a target of growing at a 10% higher rate than the overall market.
“That growth is excluding tablets, because they are a different game altogether and they will see a lot of growth by themselves. The further expansion of established names and the addition of new products over the next few months, across smartphones especially, will enable us to achieve this growth. Moreover, we are investing in marketing activities to help us strengthen our brand and make us much more recognised across the region,” stated Mastandrea.
According to him, the company will be equally pushing its products and solutions to the retail-proconsumer market as it will be to the more SMB and corporate segments. According to Mastandrea, the company will be working on its channel strategy, re-qualifying partners and appointing new ones as well as it pushes more aggressively into the corporate segment, especially with its range of Gateway servers.
“Currently, our revenues from the region remain a mix of 50% from the retail segment, 30% from the SMB segment, and 20% from corporates and government organisations – typically large accounts. In the next year, we can see that changing to around 30% from the retail segment, 50% from the SMB segment and the rest from corporate and government organisations,” said Mastandrea.
Acer has dropped a few places in the overall market share in the region over the past few years. However, Mastandrea assured that the firm’s new strategy, extended product roadmap including smartphones and tablets, and additional efforts for growth and brand recall will help it achieve its proper place on the ICT map in the region.
According to him, Acer will also be soon launching a solution meant for education institutions incorporating everything from interactive whiteboards to student netbooks. Mastandrea said that he expected this solution to gain a lot of customers in the region and the African countries soon after its launch.
