Arche Technology UK’s parent company, Kunnan Enterprises Group of Taiwan, has announced a new pan-European distribution policy. The company says the strategy is based on its French model which operates a 46-store PC Warehouse retail chain and is the third largest supplier of IBM-compatible personal computers in France, with monthly sales of UKP5m. The same approach, already very successful in the US, is being adopted in the UK, Spain and Germany, and Paris-based Kunnan High Technology SA will act as the European holding company with subsidiaries established in new markets. Under the reorganisation, Arche Technology UK Ltd will become the reseller division of KHT UK Ltd and it plans to launch a UK network of PC Warehouse retail stores that will incorporate the existing reseller division, a corporate sales team and mail order operation. The company aims to have four warehouses open by March 1992, two in London, one in Birmingham and one in Manchester. It plans to establish the London stores in January and have a national network of 20 stores within two years with mail order and national account sales beginning in January 1992. Kunnan says that it will open 20 Warehouses in Germany, and between 10 and 12 in Spain. The stores will stock two ranges of personal computers – the Arche range of portables, desktops, file servers, workstations and multi-user hosts – and the new Kenitec family of low-end systems that are manufactured by Kunnan in Taiwan. The company says that Arche’s current Nottingham base is to be closed and the reseller division moved to KHT UK’s new London headquarters. All employees will be given the option to relocate, and KHT anticipates the over 60 new jobs will be created, in addition to six sales and technical staff in each regional warehouse. The PC Warehouses will market a range of software and printers, as well as the personal computers, but the company says that it remains committed to its existing reseller network. It has extended a 10% dealer discount promotion until the end of the year, and the full PC Warehouse portfolio will also be made available to its dealers.
