Issue #0607/4 - Pricing discrepancies across Europe is not going to help Hewlett-Packard’s fight against grey imports.
For the past eight years, at least, Hewlett-Packard has operated a pricing structure that is supposed to maintain comparative pricing in Europe to within a 2.5% band. It is partly this strategy that is to blame for the constant pricing tweaks and shifts in the region.
However, there has always been a degree to which this has not been possible but diversions from the policy have tended to be relatively insignificant – that is, by today’s standards!
Latest Hewlett-Packard pricing includes a few strategic reductions on certain Photosmart and DeskJet printers and AiOs.
Hewlett-Packard Photosmart 8250
Right now, residents of the UK holidaying in Portugal, Italy or Spain, or taking a day trip by ferry to Belgium or the Netherlands, can buy a Photosmart 8250 printer for 1€ more than the price they would pay in British Pounds! With no price reduction in the UK, remaining at £127, a reduction of nearly 26% in selected Euro zone countries means that the local price drops to €128.
Pricing discrepancies across Europe
Photosmart 8250
Price reductions are applied over almost all countries in the EMEA region but noticeably left out are Austria, France, Germany and Ireland in addition to the UK. Here we find the price of the Photosmart 8250 as high as €183 (Ireland) with a UK equivalent of €185 – a huge 43% discrepancy.
Price reductions of a similar magnitude are applied in a smaller selection of countries on the low-end DeskJet 5440, creating similar discrepancies between Ireland and countries like Finland, Greece, Italy and the Baltics.
High-end Scalable Printing Technology AiO, Photosmart 3210, and low-end DeskJet 3940 are also subject to price reductions in a number of countries but neither the scale of the reductions nor the pricing discrepancies caused are of the scale of the two mentioned above.
Italy appears to have come in for particularly special attention this month. Three digital camera packages (R817/R818) also see price reductions of 20-24%, which create pricing discrepancies a high as 44% with pricing in Ireland and a UK equivalent price.
A very interesting element of Hewlett-Packard’s pricing policy is that these discrepancies are restricted to consumer products! All commercial products (laser printers and MFPs), retain strict pricing discipline across the Euro zone and close currency equivalents in non-Euro countries like the UK.
Hewlett-Packard
