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NOTEBOOKS
43
Venturer returns
Venturer 2-in-1 notebooks are reviving a brand familiar to
many older consumers. James Goulding reports
Black Friday Walmart alone sold 1.75 million
of the company’s devices – it realised that it
was unwise to be so reliant on one country.
So, in 2015, it took the decision to develop
other markets outside the US, including the
UK, France, Italy and China.
UK strategy
Green’s strategy in the UK has been to
revive the Venturer brand by gradually
building up awareness amongst
parents in need of an affordable, but
reliable computer for their children.
The first Venturer 2-in1s were
launched in January 2016 and
have been gaining traction ever since.
“We launched on Amazon, and every
month we have been building up sales to
the point where I have had meetings with
Asda and Argos and am talking to Tesco.
We have built the brand up in a structured,
patient way,” explains Green.
He adds: “We’ve got a long way to go,
but our reviews are good, we’re getting
great publicity, we’re rebuilding the brand
over here. We know we are the new kid on
the block. But we feel there’s a gap in the
market. You’ve got all the A brands which
are going up in price, and there aren’t a lot
of B or C brands after Asus Acer, HP and
Lenovo. That’s the gap we want to fill.”
The company now has five 2-in-1
Windows devices in its portfolio, but
Green’s plan is to expand the range with
additional products later in the year.
“One advantage
of having a big parent company with a
large American business is that I can
follow their product roadmap. We are
talking about doing a HomeTab, a 17-inch
tablet, which is like an all-in-one but
portable so you can move it from kitchen
to lounge to bedroom. It’s got a battery,
USB ports and a nice big touchscreen,
and will be Android-based because it’s
an entertainment device. And we are
looking at doing affordable laptops for
Q3 and back to school. There are gaps in
the market and retailers are looking for a
second tier-brand that can work with them
to build up that market – not everyone
wants an HP or an Asus or an Acer.”
Expanded distribution
This year, Green is hoping to expand
Venturer distribution beyond Amazon and
Ideal World and get the brand into more
Tier One and Tier Two retail stores like
Argos, Currys, Tesco or Shop Direct and
Maplins.
In this context, he cites the benefits of
being backed by a profitable business with
a commitment to manufacturing quality.
“We are a successful company and I’ve
got a fantastic supply chain behind me,
which is critical in this market. Last year
a lot of companies couldn’t supply their
commitments because they couldn’t get
hold of LCDs. I’m fortunate to work for a
company that buys LCDs in their millions;
if I want 20,000 pieces, it’s not a big deal
because we’ve already got the stock,” he
says.
Alco’s UK distributor is also looking at
the reseller market, though Green is not
holding his breath. “That is a very brand-
driven market, so whilst we are talking to
these guys, my expectations aren’t very
high at the moment,” he says.
Venturer is having to compete in
a tough market, but by focusing on
quality rather than just price Green
is confident that the brand will
once again become a name to
reckon with.
The ‘affordable alternative’ is how Alco
business development manager Adrian
Green describes the Venturer brand
of notebooks targeted at education
customers and home users.
Launched in the UK in January 2016,
the range now includes five 2-in-1 Windows
notebooks with detachable keyboards –
two 10-inch models, two 11-inch models
and one new 12-inch model.
The Venturer brand is owned by Alco
Electronics, a publicly listed company on the
Hong King Stock Exchange, which celebrates
its 50th anniversary next year. Alco has a
long history in the consumer electronics
business as a contract manufacturer – it
was once the largest sub-contractor
manufacturer for Sony’s Aiwa brand – and
as a manufacturer of its own products.
In the UK, it produced TVs and audio
products for the likes of Comet, Argos,
Littlewoods and Currys, under retailers’
own brands and its own Venturer name. The
latter gradually disappeared from UK shops
in the ‘00s as Comet, its largest customer,
went under and other retailers focused on
their own brands.
When Adrian Green started working
with Alco again (after leaving in 1999), the
company was focused very much on the
US market.
“I rejoined in 2015, and the business
had changed from the TV field to the tablet
field. In the US, we manufacture under the
RCA brand, which we own for the North
American market. We supply Walmart, Best
Buy, Target, Home Shopping Network – all
the major retailers in the US, which makes
up about 95% of our business today.
Turnover is $380 million.”
As healthy as Alco’s US business is – on
Green’s strategy
in the UK has
been to revive the
Venturer brand by
gradually building
up awareness
amongst parents
in need of an
affordable, but
reliable computer
for their children
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VENTURER 2 IN 1 NOTEBOOKS
