Over September and October, the superstore chain will be rolling out its own-brand Advent servers across its 101 outlets for the first time, following a pilot scheme in selected stores. For the smaller, 20-seat business, PC World will be selling an Advent server that can be ordered in-store with delivery taking place 48 hours later. Pricing details have yet to be announced. Managing director, Simon Turner, is also promising more business-dedicated desktops and notebooks from the likes of HP and Compaq. Readers should take all the evidence into account about PC World and ensure they get good service after the firm won the wooden spoon in Tech Advisor’s customer service poll. Turner has since said the firm is changing its ways. PC World is also throwing down the gauntlet to the leading component suppliers, in another example of its all-things-to-all-men strategy. As of September, so-called Component Shops will adorn the floor space of each outlet. “For the guy who wants to build his own PC, it’s absolutely fair to say you wouldn’t come to PC World right now – you might come for a cable and a bit of software but not for components,” conceded Turner. Turner, however, is adamant that the arrival of Component Shops will change this with “industry [lower] pricing on fans, motherboards and hard disks”.
