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Instrumental to Packard Bell's early success was their decision to distribute their systems to mass market retailers such as [[Sears]], as well as [[wholesale club]]s and consumer electronics stores.<ref name=Grant />{{rp|388}} Packard Bell was one of the first PC clone vendors to adopt these sales channels, at a time when PCs were nearly universally sold through [[mail order]], sales representatives, or specialized computer stores.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Steve|first=Weiner|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/194967183/|title=New Wine in Vintage Bottles|date=May 14, 1990|journal=Forbes|via=ProQuest|volume=145|issue=10|page=122}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Ken|first=Ryan|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A16459743/GPS?sid=wikipedia|volume=69|issue=7|title=Nobody's Fool: Packard Bell, Pioneer of Computer Retail Distribution, Comes Home to Roost|date=February 13, 1995|journal=Home Furnishing Network|publisher=BridgeTower Media|page=70|via=Gale}}</ref> While the established name-brand PC vendors were reluctant to sell their systems at these types of retailers in favor of cultivating lucrative service contracts with their customers, the percentage of PCs sold through mass market retailers rose threefold between 1987 and 1992—from 4 percent to 12 percent—with Packard Bell dominating within this niche. Within less than three years of the company's incorporation, Packard Bell saw an annual sales figure of US$600 million in 1989.<ref name=Grant />{{rp|388}} Even amid the early 1990s recession, annual sales in 1991 grew to US$700 million.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Patrice|first=Apodaca|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/281605678/|title=Packard Bell Strategy Withstanding Slump|date=January 7, 1992|journal=Los Angeles Times|page=D1|via=ProQuest}}</ref>{{efn|The company posted a net loss that year, however, of $1 million, according to the prospectus of their cancelled [[initial public offering]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jim|first=Carlton|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/398382731/|title=Packard Bell Prospers Despite PC Industry Shake-Up; Computer Maker's Secret of Success: Focusing on the Consumer Market|date=June 14, 1994|journal=Wall Street Journal|page=B4|via=ProQuest}}</ref>}} Sales were helped along by Packard Bell's penetration into new markets—such as [[local area network]] systems for enterprises and [[CPU card]]s for power users—as well as the company's extensive customer support package for all customers, offering live technical support over the phone, toll-free and around the clock. Packard Bell dubbed their customer support system Infinitech, which provided prerecorded troubleshooting tips in addition to a line to staffed technical support. The company also provided Infinitech through their bulletin-board systems hosted on [[CompuServe]] and [[Prodigy (online service)|Prodigy]].<ref name=Grant />{{rp|388}}
Packard Bell hoped to go public and file its [[initial public offering]] in the spring or summer of 1992. Planning a 5.2-million share offering at between $13.50 and $15.50 a share, the offering would have retired the majority of the company's $93 million debt. However, Packard Bell's IPO was postponed in June amid an inclement personal computer market that saw many other computer companies pull their IPOs due to mounting competition from [[Compaq]], [[Dell]], and [[AST Research]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Todd|first=White|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/233623380/|title=Will Packard Bell's Share Sell as Well as Its Inexpensive PCs?|date=April 6, 1992|journal=Los Angeles Business Journal|publisher=American City Business Journals|page=1|via=ProQuest|volume=14|issue=14}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Todd|first=White|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/233630334/|title=Postponed Packard Bell IPO Still Can't Find a Date|date=June 8, 1992|journal=Los Angeles Business Journal|page=22|via=ProQuest|volume=14|issue=23}}</ref> It was eventually cancelled altogether, Packard Bell remaining a private company throughout the rest of its existence.<ref name=movin />
===1993–1995: Increasing market share and expansion in Europe===
[[File:Packard Bell Corner Computer.jpg|thumb|upright|Packard Bell Corner Computer from 1995, designed by [[Frog Design|Frog]]]]
[[File:Packard Bell Multimedia D160.jpg|thumb|upright|Packard Bell Multimedia D160 [[Computer tower|tower]] from 1996]]
After clocking annual sales of over $900 million in 1992, Packard Bell passed the $1-billion mark in 1993, with annual sales that year of nearly $1.25 billion, at which point the company employed over 700 workers in the United States. Packard Bell's American [[Market share of personal computer vendors|market share among PC manufacturers]] likewise grew from 5.3 percent to 6.7 percent between 1992 and 1993. They were then the fourth-largest personal computer vendor in the United States, trailing IBM, [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], and
As other name-brand competitors began adopting Packard Bell's core strategies of bundling software and expansions, slashing prices, and selling through mass market retailers, Packard Bell responded by offering products at the high-end of the market and moving into Europe, where they were beginning to make inroads. After netting $100 million in sales to Europe in 1992 (10 percent of the company's global sales), Packard Bell constructed a 75,000-square-foot building in the Netherlands and hired 250 workers in the country, including a diverse remote customer service team providing technical support in 12 different languages.<ref name="Grant" />{{rp|388}} By 1993, Packard Bell's products were stocked in 1,500 retail locations across 13 countries, and by 1994, the company was selling 2.1 million product units per year, doubling their previous year's output.<ref name="Grant" />{{rp|388}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Britt|first=Russ|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/375725561/|title=1993 Has Been a 'Doubly' Good Year at Packard Bell|journal=Daily Record-Wooster|date=December 20, 1993|via=ProQuest}}</ref>
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