Lenovo to export its rural expertise

Lenovo is kicking off an aggressive campaign to penetrate rural markets in five developing countries, seeking to challenge competitors such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer using the recipe behind its recent successes in its Chinese home market. The PC maker plans to build a vast distribution network to “fully cover” rural areas in Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, India and Turkey during the next three years, said Chen Shaopeng, president of Lenovo’s emerging markets business group. The plan follows an unprecedented push into rural China over the past two years. Lenovo has signed up 20,000 retailers since 2009, gaining a presence in smaller cities and towns where PC demand is growing at a far faster pace than in the largest cities. The strategy has helped Lenovo grow faster than any other PC vendor for five consecutive quarters. In the last three months of 2010, its shipments increased 21 per cent year on year, compared with 3.4 per cent average industry growth.