SMBs Prefer VARs over Buying Direct for PCs - Product Quality Is No. 1
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PC buyers at SMBs said product quality comes first, but price and post-sales
service and support follow behind those, according to the Forrester survey.
"It shows that SMBs are willing to pay a premium for PCs that are more
reliable, built more durably, smaller, lighter, run quieter, run cooler, are
more expandable, or last longer than the competition's," Gray wrote in his
report. "In other words, many SMBs think and behave like consumers. But if
there's little differentiation between product quality and pricing, then
post-sales service and support will ultimately prove to be the tipping point
for many SMBs."
The Forrester survey also found that SMBs rely heavily on independent trusted
advisers when choosing a PC vendor—IT peers or colleagues, followed by business
contacts, publications and consultants. And while VARs, systems
integrators and vendor salespeople also influence the choice of vendor, they
don't influence it as much, according to Gray.
More than half of SMBs prefer to buy from a VAR or
systems integrator rather than directly from the manufacturer, the survey
found. That preference is a positive for Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo,
"whose partners rave about their willingness to come out for in-person
demos, deliver consistent communications and assist with marketing
support," Gray wrote. About a third of SMBs turn to local or regional
resellers, and 19 percent to a large or national reseller, according to Forrester.
But 38 percent of SMBs prefer to purchase their PCs directly from PC makers such
as Dell, the survey revealed.
Indeed, the survey also found that Dell has a big lead over HP and Lenovo, its
closest competitors in the SMB space. More than half of SMBs bought
desktops from Dell, and 45 percent bought laptops from Dell. HP came next
with 24 percent of desktops and 21 percent of laptops.
In Europe, it's more of a horserace, with Dell leading HP by
just 3 percentage points on desktops and tied with HP on laptops. "It's important
for tech marketers to understand the underlying cause for these regional
discrepancies to further exploit channel strengths," Gray wrote.
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