HP Australia spokesperson Brad Swiney told ZDNet Australia they had no plans to follow a US initiative because Hot Deals was successful. "It has obviously proved strong because it's been relaunched," he said.
HP relaunched its Hot Deals initiative earlier this year, after initially launching it in December 2001. The Hot Deals catalogue, now mostly online, offers special deals and bundles aimed at the SME market and gives purchasers the opportunity to buy direct from HP or through a reseller.
Glen Miller of distributor Janteknology told ZDNet Australia a lot of vendors were taking this "bet each way" approach, and believes it is problematic. "I would be surprised if HP resellers were happy with it because they get a diluted return," he said. "It isn't really a solution to the channel conflict issues."
Many people mistakenly believe going to the source is more useful for issues like support, according to Miller. He said people actively contacting vendors to buy from them isn't an issue with resellers, but vendors soliciting direct sales themselves is a "bone of contention".
Swiney said the Hot Deals program had proven itself for both HPs channel partners and the SME market. "The aim of it is to assist the channel partners to on sell HP solutions to the public," he said. "So it is primarily sent to channel partners to on sell to the customer base, with their own logos and things."
However, he said a portion of the catalogues sent out went straight to the customer base, but would not reveal how many.
