Box maker HP gets serious about the box
The No. 2 retailer of desktop PCs in North America on Monday teamed up with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to offer a low-cost PC bundle primarily for first-time PC buyers and back-to-school purchasers.
The $898 package combines a Pavilion minitower PC with a 15-inch V-Series HP monitor and HP DeskJet 610CL printer. The PC offers a 600MHz Celeron chip from Intel Corp., 64MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive and Windows 98 Second Edition.
The innovation has little to do with the technology. It's the box that is new.
HP (hwp) designed a package for all three of the components, which it says is easier to handle in the checkout lane and easier to deploy once the consumer gets it home.
Packaging the PC in a single 24.5-inch-wide-by-20-inch-high box instead of three boxes will allow consumers to fit it in the front seat of a car or in the back of a truck.
Of course, at 76 pounds, moving the box is not entirely effortless.
The package was developed specifically for Wal-Mart. However, HP will work with other retailers to develop similar packages for later in the year.
"You'll see more of these in retail as the months progress," said Tom Anderson, marketing manager for HP's desktop Pavilion, North America.
Anderson said that HP is also working to create bundles that it would deliver to customers on a direct sale, build-to-order basis. Under consideration are a music PC bundle and a multimedia PC that includes a camera. The trade-off: Buyers would have limited ability to customize the models with things such as more RAM.
An analyst applauded HP's move into the box.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (hwp) "It's a good solution, targeted at the right customer in the right atmosphere (Wal-Mart)," said Stephen Baker, an analyst with PC Data. "It provides the customer with everything. The size of the box isn't so intimidating that people wouldn't buy it."
However, this kind of bundle works best as a promotion, Baker said.
"Do I see that as a permanent kind of thing at a BestBuy? Probably not," he said. However, "It's something most anybody (among retailers) would consider as a promotion."