Acer EMEA boss rules out 'desperate market share strategy'

Newly appointed Luca Rossi pledges not to sacrifice profit for market gains

Acer's new EMEA boss has vowed not to pursue a "desperate market share acquisition strategy, no matter what it costs" as he claimed the vendor has fully won back the channel's trust after its inventory woes.

Luca Rossi, who was appointed as the vendor's regional president this summer, said that, although he wishes to improve the vendor's standing in the EMEA client market, he is equally determined to maintain healthy profitability.

"In PCs we want to grow faster than the market and expand our commercial business. For sure, market share is a measure [of our success], but we continue to look at the bottom line," he said. "We are not going to have a desperate market-share acquisition strategy, no matter what it costs."

In the mobility sector, the profit equation is a little different for the time being, he claimed, as Acer is still in the process of making the necessary investments in building its smartphone proposition.

"In emerging categories such as smartphones, I do not want to talk about losses, I want to talk about investments," said Rossi. "It is no secret that every PC vendor in the smartphone business is struggling to break even at the moment. But with tablets we are already in the range where we have started to make money."

Acer soared up the PC rankings throughout 2010 as it strung together several quarters of impressive shipment growth. But the wheels came off in 2011, and the company took a $150m writedown relating to its EMEA inventory levels, which it admitted had become too high. Rossi claimed the manufacturer has now "absolutely" won back the trust of its distribution partners across the region.

"We have taken strong measures, including investing in IT tools. I am very happy and relaxed that, today, when I ask all of our [partners] about inventory and discipline, they tell me everything is under control."

One of Rossi's key goals for the channel is to increase Acer's standing among SMB and mid-market resellers. He claimed he wants to address the "imbalance" between the size and success of the vendor's consumer and business operations by growing the latter strongly.

"We invite resellers to let us prove ourselves as a competitor," he said. "We believe we are faster than the industry average in terms of response times, and we are completely indirect, so there is no risk that, once an end user gets bigger, maybe we will move them over to direct - we do not have the organisation for that."