Twinhead returns to Europe

Twinhead is to start reselling own-brand computer goods in Europe, two years after it withdrew from the region.

The Taiwanese manufacturer is setting up stall again in the UK, Germany, France and Italy and will service other European countries through distribution. Twinhead is majoring on three classes of product: notebooks, LCD screens and digital cameras.

Its ambitions are fairly modest: for the UK, historically the strongest market for its notebooks, it is targeting first year sales of €25m. This means that price rather than branded activity will be the dominant marketing tool.

In the UK, the company has signed up Northamber and Enta to distribute its kit and it says it is likely to pick up business with seven of its former roster of nine UK resellers.

In a sense the Twinhead has never been away: the company has operated a maintenance and OEM presence on the continent throughout. But Twinhead, is, unusually for a Taiwanese firm, stronger in the branded market than it is as an OEM. Partly this is because Twinhead is a minnow compared with some of Taiwan’s OEM giants, but mainly because it has built a good consumer presence in Taiwan and South Asia.

As a minnow, the company lacked the financial resources to withstand the economic downturn following 9-11, it says. Also, it had been under pressure to withdraw branded activity in France from its biggest OEM in the region. ®