Hannspree opens London store

TV and monitor vendor cuts ribbon on outlet in Shepherds Bush's Westfield

Westfield mall store will showcase Hannspree's most attractive designs

TV and monitor vendor Hannspree is all set to expand across Western Europe, opening its first store in London aimed at showcasing its most attractive designs.

Martin Kent, territory manager for the UK and Northern Europe at the Taipei-headquartered vendor, said the first store in Europe would be a 1,483sq-ft outlet at Westfield mall in Shepherds Bush, which is currently claimed to be Europe’s biggest urban mall.

Asked if the new store would potentially cannibalise sales of Hannspree product that could move through the UK IT channel, Kent said: “This is more of a branding and image exercise. The majority of the products that we will be exhibiting in-store will be products we are not selling through traditional channels.

“You cannot buy them online, either. It will not cannibalise channel sales at all – we will be selling things there at a price point that will not conflict.”

Kent said the store will showcase kit that Hannspree believes customers need to experience first-hand before buying. This includes certain specially designed TV models, for example, although it will also stock some standard TVs that its UK channel currently focuses on, alongside standard monitors and the sister HannsG range.

“We have TVs in the shape of an apple and a range of animals, including giraffes and elephants. This is the type of product we will be selling in the London store,” Kent said.

The vendor plans to launch an iPad-type tablet computer soon, which it says will be available to VARs as well as retailers. Distribution of its monitors and TVs is through Micro-P and Midwich, with Ingram Micro handling monitors as well.

Like Apple, Hannspree focuses on design-centric kit that it hopes will encourage the growth of products and categories.

According to the vendor, the Westfield outlet will offer hands-on experiences and a chance to speak with technical representatives.

Five staff will be based at the Westfield mall, which celebrates its second anniversary this week.

Michael Gutman, managing director of Westfield UK and Europe, said: “We opened in the teeth of a recession at 99 per cent let.

“Since then we have delivered footfall 15 per cent up on original expectations and independent analyst CACI ranked the centre as having the highest sales potential in the UK – £1.3bn a year.”