Gateway looks to S. Europe, Latin America and Asia

PC vendor Gateway intends to gradually move into more international markets beyond the three — the U.K., Japan, and Mexico — in which it currently operates, according to a company executive. Particular regions of interest for Gateway are Southern Europe, selected parts of Latin America and elsewhere in Asia-Pacific.

“We’re looking at going into new countries where we feel it would be valuable for us to set up,” said Ed Fisher, senior vice president for Gateway’s international operations.

For instance, in Latin America, the company is considering entering Chile since the consumer requirements in that country are very similar to what Gateway has seen in Mexico, according to Fisher. “We could use the same partners,” he said. “We’re looking at countries where we’re able to leverage previous customer knowledge.”

In Asia-Pacific, Gateway is particularly interested in South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, according to Fisher. “You won’t see us do very rapid expansions,” he said. “It will be methodical. We won’t go where our infrastructure in terms of customer care can’t be well supported.”

Over the past 18 months, Gateway has redefined itself, away from an ill-judged move into selling consumer electronics and back to its roots as a PC vendor. Industry analysts including IDC and Gartner estimate the firm is the No. 3 PC vendor in the U.S. and is in the top 10 in the global market.

Although Gateway runs its international operations as a separate business unit, the company doesn’t break out the revenue split between foreign and homegrown sales, according to Fisher.

Gateway has steadily de-emphasized direct sales in favor of selling its products through retail channels in the U.S, and Canada, while elsewhere in the world it sells purely through partners. Recently, the company has made a number of announcements about the expansion of its channel partnerships in both the U.K. and Japan, a trend it expects to continue, according to Fisher.

The company recently opened an office in the U.K., but Fisher is quick to point out that the operation’s raison d’etre is to service Gateway’s channel partners, not a preliminary to restarting direct product sales. The office employs around six staff focused on customer service and business transactions, he said. Gateway has a similar office in Japan, Fisher added.

It’s possible the company may open other such offices elsewhere, particularly in Europe. “We’re a very big believer in localizing our business,” Fisher said. “In Italy, France or Spain, our [channel] customers want our business to be localized and expect us to have feet on the street.”

Gateway is in the process of widening its product portfolio to markets outside of the U.S. and Canada, according to Fisher.

“We’re adding notebooks and TFTs [thin-film transistors] to our existing PC business,” he said.

To date, Gateway hasn’t targeted small to midsize business (SMB) customers around the world, only consumers. “We don’t specifically configure our international machines for SMBs,” Fisher said. However, at some point, the company would like to take its products tailored to SMBs in the U.S. and duplicate that line of business internationally, Fisher said.