Egg and BT ClickFree to sell Fujitsu PCs

Never slow to spot a quirky channel opportunity, Fujitsu has teamed up with BT ClickFree and Egg, the savings and investment company owned by Prudential. The ClickFree site will offer three different Fujitsu PCs, which all come pre-loaded with ClickFree software. Customers of Egg will also be able to buy Fujitsu PCs from the Egg Web site. These latest Fujitsu channel signings follow last year's decision by the Japanese PC maker to bypass the traditional high street retailer and sell its PCs in supermarkets, the most notable of which was Tesco. Bryan Taylor, Fujitsu UK managing director, denied the company had embarked on a series of PR stunts and gimmicks to raise its profile. "We’ve sold 25,000 PCs through Tesco," Taylor said. "It’s more than a gimmick, this is a serious attempt to find a creative approach to getting to the customer." "BT and the Pru are two of the most rock solid brands in the UK. Teaming up with them certainly won’t do us any harm," he continued. On the ClickFree site, customers will be able to buy a Fujitsu PIII-based PC for £759 (ex-VAT) or a notebook PC from £879 (ex-VAT). Taylor said Fujitsu was able to operate at these low price levels and still make a profit. "These retailers have a lower expectation of margin than the traditional resellers." ®