An article explored the significant meeting between the OEM and its dealers in the USA in Phoenix, Arizona, with more information given about the future of the arrangement.
Industry Analysts reported on the meeting, noting that since the merger was announced last September there “has been almost no news on how this deal was going to go down”, or how it would work out for dealers of Samsung products, but the meeting in Phoenix cleared up some concerns for those in dealerships. Samsung’s Matt Smith opened the meeting with the year’s review and stated that the “performance highlights from last year, the most impressive of which, was that overall A3 unit sales were up 22percent while revenue in A3 grew 33 percent year over year”.
He was also reported as saying that “once the acquisition is complete later this year, they will run as two separate channels (HP brand and Samsung brand) and in 2020 they will unify under the HP label. It will be business as usual until day one”. Smith also said that Samsung’s print staff will move to HP Inc once the deal is closed, and that the company’s dealers will also move to HP Inc on day one, although some of what he said differed from HP Inc’s Tuan Tran, who said that most, not all, Samsung dealers will make the transition.
According to the article, Samsung will continue “developing technology” for both Samsung and HP Inc dealers, but after the acquisition is completed “Samsung’s print group will become a global business unit of HP and Samsung’s dealers will be part of the HP network”. Smith said that the relationships formed with the sales teams would continue, but the article noted that this was a “slight contrast to what Tuan [said]”.
With a few years left, Samsung are still working on new technology and are not abandoning their dealers with “old technology”, and the article noted that it looked like “business as usual”. Tuan told those in attendance about the depth of the HP Inc portfolio and new products, and said that Samsung dealers would have access to it, mentioning that 3D printing was a possibility for dealers to expand into.
He went on to say that “the real reason why we believe this is a big opportunity, is the fact that HP and Samsung […] want to disrupt the A3 marketplace”, and continued by telling the dealers from Samsung that “we understand how important the commitment to the channel is, and we understand it’s going to take a lot of different muscles that we don’t quite have today”.
Tuan also said that HP Inc would be “leaning heavily on Samsung to help them understand effective ways to work with dealers”. One other note was that “as of now, HP and Samsung are competitors and it’s business as usual at Samsung” until “day one”.