LOS ANGELES -- In an indication of its success selling low-cost personal computers in Europe, Packard Bell said Thursday it has opened a European headquarters in the Netherlands, with 250 employees.
The new 75,000 square-foot facility, located in Wijchen, a suburb of Nijmechen, handles manufacturing, distribution and service for Packard Bell products throughout Europe.
Los Angeles-based Packard Bell, the nation's No. 2 supplier of IBM- compatible personal computers, noted it is the first PC manufacturer in Europe offering toll-free customer and technical support. It employs 50 full-time technicians at the headquarters offering service to customers in more than a dozen languages.
Packard Bell, which entered the European market in September 1991, generated $100 million in revenues last year in Europe, or more than 10 percent of its 1992 revenue of $925 million. It predicted Thursday that European sales will double to $200 million this year, or 16 percent of its estimated $1.25 billion in sales.
Packard Bell shipped 700,000 computers last year, up 40 percent from 1991, and said it expects to ship approximately 200,000 units in Europe in 1993.
Privately held Packard Bell has been credited with pioneering the mass market for personal computers in the United States by selling machines with software applications already loaded in, making the machines able to run right out of the box. Analysts have said it also has benefitted from its pioneering strategy of selling through mass merchandisers, rather than computer stores.
Packard Bell said Thursday its success in Europe was due to using the same mass-market strategy, with 1,500 retail outlets in 13 countries. 'European consumers have been very receptive to high performance, bundled product and our strategy is working well across the continent,' said Brent Cohen, chief operating officer.
Packard Bell said it leads in shelf space for computers in the following European chains: Dixons, Currys, Rymans, Harrods and Allders in the United Kingdom; Makro and Dixons in the Netherlands; Media Markt, Saturn Hansa, Otto Versand and Kulkoni in Germany; Auchan, Conforama, Boulanger, Camif, Cora and Rallye in France; El Corte Ingles in Spain; and Media Markt in Austria.
Packard Bell said packaging, software, documentation and customer and technical support are provided in each country's local language. 'We operate like a local company in each country and provide products and configurations that customers are demanding,' said Issac Hillel, marketing and sales director for Packard Bell Europe.
Packard Bell employes 300 other people in Europe with other offices in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. It has about 1,500 employees worldwide.
Packard Bell has estimated it currently holds 30 percent of the shelf space in the U.S. mass market channel and sells through such major retailers as Sears, Price Club, Montgomery Ward, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Silo, Costco and CompUSA.
Analysts say the low-end focus of Packard Bell and other relatively small companies, such as Dell, Gateway 2000 and AST Research, have taken away some market share from major players such as IBM.
Packard Bell's computers are assembled in the United States from parts made domestically and in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore.
Packard Bell announced last year it would go public with a stock offering that would have raisesd between $70.2 million and $80.6 million, but later withdrew, saying it wanted to wait until market conditions were more favorable.
Packard Bell, which was relatively unknown in the computer business until a few years ago, has specialized in low-end computers. It was created in 1985 when three industry veterans -- Beny Alagem, Alex Sandel and Jason Barzilay -- bought the name from conglomerate Teledyne Inc.
Although the original company had produced televisions and radios for several decades, it was virtually a shell at that time.
