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Gateway extends PC price war to UK, Ireland
The PC Price War. You Win!
Gateway today fired its opening salvo in the PC price in the UK and Ireland. The PC maker is promising to beat competitors' prices with its "Gateway Guarantee" - for a limited time promotion.
The never knowingly undersold marketing pitch was unveiled in Gateway's American heartland last week.
The company says it will refund the difference on any comparable PC from a brand-name manufacturer. Here's the list of rivals it'll fight against - Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Packard Bell, Sony, Time, Tiny or Toshiba. Realistically, only Time and Tiny could react quickly enough with ads in the daily papers offering cheaper deals. Trouble is, they would then have to sell PCs at those prices.
Gateway is promoting its price promise with a national
press advertising. The advertising tagline is "The PC Price War. You Win!"
The mechanics of the scheme look decidedly complicated.
It is inviting punters to turn up to one of its 12 UK Gateway stores - or to visit its concessions in "selected" Debenhams department stores.
Here they can speak to a Gateway advisor. "The advisor will help the customer determine if the advertised system is comparable to a selected Gateway system, and if so, and the competitor's price is lower, Gateway will beat that price."
Business customers are entitled to up to 10 PCs at the reduced price.
Gateway Stores are located in 19 Wellington Place, Belfast; The Galleries Shopping Centre, Bristol; The Whitgift Centre, Croydon; Merry Hill Centre, Dudley; 4 Gylemuir Road, Edinburgh; 43 Princesshay, Exeter; The Friary Centre, Guildford; The Blue Water Centre, Kent; The Bentall Centre, Kingston; Covent Garden, London; The Trafford Centre, Manchester; and The Bargate Centre, Southampton.
The Debenhams concessions are in Bristol; Croydon; Glasgow; Gloucester; Harrow; Ipswich; Luton; Manchester; Oxford Street, London; Romford; Sheffield and Southampton.
Gateway has two stores in Dublin. ®