Datrontech enters branded PC arena with Daewoo deal

Datrontech Group has entered into the branded PC market for the first time after signing an exclusive supply deal with Korean chaebol Daewoo, as it expands its IT portfolio in the UK.

Daewoo, previously known as a car manufacturer in the UK, has also forged deals with Datrontech and Tekdata to distribute its monitors through its Daewoo Electronics division, giving the partners the option to sell notebooks as well. The distribution contracts follow Daewoo's recent retail agreement with Comet.

Martin Mulligan, Datrontech UK's managing director, acknowledged the challenge of pitting an unknown PC manufacturer against established names in an already crowded market.

'Daewoo is a well-known name. We won't need to carry out a branding exercise. Our job will be to show customers why the PCs are different to everyone else's machines,' he said.

Mulligan conceded that no projections for Daewoo PC sales had been made yet and that the distributor would sign up further PC manufacturers as it made its foray into branded machines.

Datrontech carries Hansol monitors in the UK and its Dutch division ICP already sells Daewoo monitors and PCs by Acer and Olivetti.

Ken Hulme, general manager of Tekdata, said the distributor would only sell Daewoo monitors - in line with its policy to sell one brand for each type of product.

'This approach often makes us the biggest distributor of whatever brand we sell,' he said, adding that Tekdata had 'no qualms with Datrontech being signed up'.