Rivals scoff at Xerox pact to sell via Amazon.com

Xerox's move to sell printing products through online retailer Amazon.com has been met with scorn from rivals who said it undermines resellers and will do little to boost the vendor's sales.

Xerox's move to sell printing products through online retailer Amazon.com has been met with scorn from rivals who said it undermines resellers and will do little to boost the vendor's sales.

Amazon.com will sell Xerox's complete line of personal desktop products, including digital copier/printers, inkjet and laser printers and multifunction machines.

But Joe Kelly, European corporate communications manager at Xerox, defended the move. He said Amazon.com will provide new business opportunities, not cannibalise the existing market. "There is a move towards the web and Xerox is simply making that opportunity available to consumers."

Kelly insisted the deal applied to north America only. Amazon.com must decide whether to duplicate the model in the UK. But he added there was "no immediate plan" to sell Xerox's personal printing products in the UK.

Kelly did not comment on the terms of the deal, but indicated Amazon.com was offering cheaper-than-recommended prices.

Tracey Rawling Church, marketing manager of Kyocera, said: "This is bound to offend Xerox's channel partners, and rightly so. How can those partners trust a vendor which undermines their businesses in this way?"