HP hikes prices to mitigate currency impact

Vendor is one of many understood to be changing the price on IT kit

UK HP resellers have been hit with price rises of up to 6.5 per cent on a wide range of its kit as the vendor looks to mitigate the impact of currency fluctuations.

CRN understands that HP is not alone in doing so and that other vendors such as Dell and Lenovo have also made similar moves - neither company was available to comment at the time of first publication.

HP prices have been hiked 6.5 per cent across HP's ISS server portfolio – with the exception of certain products – as well as across its Converged System and Business Critical Server products too, again, except for a handful of kit.

In HP Networking, prices went up 6.4 per cent across the portfolio except for certain switch modules and access points. All products in its TVLite offering were not affected by this round of price hikes, but this could change from February when current promotions end.

CRN understands the prices were increased last week but that more could be on the way in the coming days.

According to City Index, sterling hit an 18-month low against the US dollar last week.

In a statement sent to CRN, HP said changing prices to reflect fluctuations is common.

"HP, like any other international company, adjusts prices based on exchanges rates and currency fluctuations; adjustments in pricing are always communicated to our partners and customers through existing communication channels," it said.

Howard Hall, managing director of HP partner DTP, said the price hikes were not too bad for business because they affect the whole channel.

"All the competition are having to do it," he said. "HP has offered – for our big deals which are already in place – to honour pricing for a period so it is just a problem for new business or lower run-rate business.

"It happens both ways: if you look at where the pound has been against the dollar then it has been in our favour. But it is unfortunate it has gone the wrong way for us over the last few months. We're not a transactional player – we don't box-shift – so it less affects you when you're working on big projects. The people who are shipping tin – the broadliners – they will have to pass [the price increase] on, otherwise it will eat into their margin."