Savastore - Further Information

Renowned for service excellence and providing the very best choice in IT components and peripherals, Watford Electronics reins supreme at the forefront of the IT marketplace with an annual growth of 65% in 2003.

As suppliers for well over 20,000 products (DVD's, Digital Cameras, Printers, Scanners etc.) Savastore also boasts Europe’s most advanced and flexible ‘PC Configurator.’ that intelegently builds the perfect PC! A great service for all customers.

Savastore have received many awards and accolades for Savastore site design and ease of navigation. Our own ‘Aries’ range of PC’s and Notebooks have also received countless awards from rigorous testing programs performed by the UK’s leading computer publications.

Savastore - Company Information

Founded in 1972, as both a supplier and designer of electronic components, the then Managing Director and now Chairman, Mr. Nazir Jessa, has created a company that endeavours to supply the latest IT products, through all channels, making IT accessible to everyone, anywhere.

With a heritage of foresight and understanding that spans four decades, 2005 sees continued growth, with Watford and the massive Savastore website identifying new and exciting areas of opportunity, always staying one step ahead of the competition.

Savastore - Building A Brand

Keeping pace with the very latest technology, Watford has incorporated the very latest CE approved components and design techniques. Which have then been blended into the ‘Aries’ range of own brand desktop and notebook computers, monitors, scanners and fax modems. It was back in 1998, soon after launch, that the Aries range of PC’s began to gain massive recognition in the computer press, winning prestigious national awards every week in great publications such as PC Pro, Computer Shopper, PC Direct, What PC and PCW.

With a Focus on quality, absolute reliability, technical specification and price, the latest range of Aries PC’s are still leading the way. Configured and built on-site by Watford’s own dedicated PC engineers. The Aries range are seeing a phenomenal success and by joining global partner Intel, as Intel’s Premier Provider the 60% growth in sales over 2002, looks like being eclipsed again in 2003 by a further 80-90%.

Importantly all components and PC systems are also backed by a comprehensively trained National service and support team, achieving a 99.9% first call fix, for any technical query.

Savastore - From the Ground Up

As a leader in the IT market, Watford has always evaluated its strategic positioning to ensure that its not just a forerunner but a leader, paving the way for new ventures and technologies, embracing the future and learning from history. One such move was to design and launch the company’s very first website and predecessor to the Savastore site in 1997 (www.watford.co.uk).

By analysing customer feedback and changing in line with the market the site went through four updates. This, along-side a strong marketing strategy, propelled the site to record over 6 million hits per month and generated over 1,000 orders a day. As a result the ‘Watford’ brand, regarded as a forerunner in the IT marketplace, now also attracts kudos as a leading e-commerce giant with the aforementioned Savastore brand.

However, it was some 30 years earlier, in a humble attic room, where the Watford Electronics adventure really began.

In 1975, just three years since launch, Watford Electronics had created a reputation of excellence with home hobbyists and designers that had seen the company grow massively. As such Watford Electronics moved to its first retail outlet, building on the fortunes of its founding years as the South East’s premier IT and peripheral supplier.

Over the coming years the company continued to grow and build strong relationships within the education sector, winning many prestigious national contracts. As a result, news of the company spread and Watford continued to grow. During this period (In the late 1970’s) Watford Electronics were responsible for the design of the UK’s first TV game (the fore-runner to the Nintendo!), better known as ‘ping pong’ as well as the Digital Frequency Meter. Both designs helped launch Watford Electronics right to the very front of the IT sector.

There then followed a very rapid growth period with many ‘company firsts’ and a new store opening in 1982, offering customers a wider choice of products with a first class service. It was during this time that Watford broke into the Spectrum market with their first full-featured Disk Operating System. Later, in 1983 Watford launched the first 128K ROM/RAM card for the BBC micro and their first 286 notebook - the first in a long line of high powered laptops. However, by releasing the world’s first shadow RAM card for the BBC Micro in 1984. And just two years later, the first mouse for the same machine. Watford Electronics was now perfectly placed for the home PC boom in 1989, and so launched its own, ground breaking, state of the art PC system and own range of Fax Modems.

The strategy, foresight and resultant growth that occurred during this period led to Watford Electronics relocating to purpose built headquarters in Luton in 1992. With large warehousing facilities and superb local infrastructure the move coincided with the important release of the world’s smallest ARM3 upgrade for the Acorn Archimedes.

With an ever strong marketing focus Watford Electronics launched its IT mail order catalogue ‘The Green Pages’ in 1996 and the first website (www.watford.co.uk), utilising e-commerce software, later the following year.

It was during 1998 when Watford Electronics range of Aries PC’s began to gain massive recognition in the computer press and began winning awards in PC Pro, Computer Shopper, PC Direct, What PC and PCW. – a trend that continues today.

The success story continued into 2001 and competitors witnessed Watford Electronics re-brand its Internet division to Savastore. and quickly fell further behind. The brand quickly became one of the UK’s finest dot.com stories. In recognition of such, Mr. Jessa (founder of Watford) was awarded the prestigious Wind Rush Award. Later in 2003, in honour of his achievements as an entrepreneur, and for chartering Watford Electronics (the country’s longest-established hi-tech mail order company), Mr. Jessa was also awarded with an Honorary Degree from Luton University.

Savastore - And to the Future

Offering customers a massive choice of bespoke systems and peripherals, picked from the worlds leading manufacturers. It will come as no surprise to hear that today, Watford and the Savastore brand, (now in its 3nd year) is seeing the most exciting and rewarding times. 2004 has been equally impressive with a great line up of products, developments and positioning that will see Watford and the ‘Savastore’ brand leap further ahead. In late 2004 Savastore received a face-lift, not only making it easier to navigate, search a much faster but in whole a more enjoyable shopping experience for the customer. The Aries brand of PC systems received their own store, where purchasing a PC on-line is now even easier, especially when choosing your own specification. This new face lift will take Savastore into 2005 with renewed energy and will continue to be improved on customer feedback and with technology updates.

Savastore - Secure Connection

All the personal information, including name, address and credit card details you enter on the Savastore site is held securely on our back-office servers.

Savastore utilise a certified SSL (Secure Socket Layer) connection. This means that there is a high level of encryption (128bit) involved (encryption is a method of scrambling data so that only the two computers involved can read the data).

The certificate used on Savastore's site is assigned to them by a third party company - Thawte.

Savastore - Reputable Company

Savastore is a division of Watford Electronics Limited. Established in 1972, Watford Electronics is one of the longest running computer resellers in the UK having over 30 years of traditional business experience. Why not take a look at Savastore's Company Overview for the full history. You can be confident that you are dealing with a stable, profitable and honest company.

Savastore - Credit Card Security

When entering your credit card details on the Savastore website, you are in a secure environment, which means that the information passed between your PC and our web-server is encrypted to prevent anyone outside being able to extract your details. Savastore have made substantial investment in the latest technology to make it extremely difficult (if not impossible) for anyone to impersonate you and use your credit card.

Shopping on-line at Savastore is actually considered fairly low-risk. According to CNN, "The prevalent opinion ... is that on-line credit card use is actually no riskier for consumers than traditional 'low-tech' transactions." You should feel as safe as you would using a credit card in a restaurant, if not more so.

Savastore - Genuine Products

Savastore only sell brand new products, unless clearly stated eg B-grade stock. However, you will notice that Savastore do offer OEM products and RETAIL products. OEM products are primarily supplied to companies manufacturing their own PC systems, and are in the main identical in specification their 'retail' equivalent. The only difference being the packaging and minimal documentation or software supplied with the product. There should be no difference in the specification of the product itself. All products are purchased through authorised distributors only, this ensures that your guarantee and warranty are recognised by the manufacturer.