HP India cautions against buying from unauthorised e-commerce channels

MUMBAI: After Asus and Lenovo, Hewlett Packard India has now joined the band of technology firms advising customers to be cautious while purchasing devices from unauthorised e-commerce platforms and online shopping sites.

The US-based computer maker has advised consumers to purchase PCs, laptops and tablets through its authorised channel partners and its own online store. The firm said the "predatory pricing" is hurting the industry and it is working with industry bodies like MAIT and Nasscom to ensure a right framework of policies.

"We have already issued an advisory on what we can do and what we can't do with these partners (channel partners). We advised people to work through our officially registered channel partners. That's a very strong advisory we have issued to the market," HP India VP and General Manager Printing and Personal Systems Group Rajiv Srivastava told PTI.

The advisory was issued about a month back, he added. Last month, Taiwanese tech giant Asus and Chinese smartphone maker also advised its customers to be cautious while purchasing devices from e-commerce platforms and online shopping sites.

HP India has online marketplace Flipkart as its official online registered channel, apart from its own online channel and traditional partners, he said.

"Anybody who has a pricing agreement with HP will be our official channel partner. We are ensuring that our channel partners do not follow predatory pricing," Srivastava said. He added that it has approached its partners and asking them not to follow this type of pricing as it harms the industry as a whole.

"We are also working with MAIT and Nasscom to ensure that the right framework of policies are put into place to not allow predatory pricing," Srivastava said.

HP India also wants to ensure a consistent pricing policy so that the traditional partners "do not feel the heat", he added.

In February, another Chinese player Lenovo had also cautioned its customers. It alleged that online portals were selling products at "very low predatory prices". Lenovo carried a list of all authorised stores and genuine partners on its website as part of its efforts to inform buyers.

These trends seem to highlight that in a bid to woo customers, e-commerce companies are offering heavy discounts on products, which are often below prices offered in the offline market.