By John Oates, 13 May 1999 00:20
NEWS Hewlett-Packard (HP) has finally bitten the ecommerce bullet by announcing it will sell direct to consumers. The firm said it will launch an online store in the UK on 3 June, with a Swedish version to follow at the end of that month. HP said the stores, which will operate for a six-month trial period, will only sell 'home products' - PCs, low to mid-end printers, fax/copiers and digital cameras. Per Hogberg, HP European ebusiness manager, said: "This is not an attack on our resellers. We have identified a group of customers who will only buy direct over the Web; they are not customers who would use resellers or retailers." Hogberg denied the decision is a U-turn, despite HP's lengthy efforts to reassure dealers that it will never sell direct. Last November, HP's general manager of commercial channels, Bernd Bischoff told Silicon.com: "We will never go direct for the corporate customer." Hogberg said the products will not be built to order - customers will only be able to order items already in stock. Standard delivery time will be three days, although customers will have the chance to pay extra for next-day delivery. Prices will be set at the recommended retail price, plus delivery charges which vary with the size of the order.
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