China's Lenovo Blames Higher Prices at Home on Promotional Costs
Yicai Global
DATE:  Nov 19 2018
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Lenovo Blames Higher Prices at Home on Promotional Costs China's Lenovo Blames Higher Prices at Home on Promotional Costs

(Yicai Global) Nov. 19 -- Lenovo, the world's biggest personal computer maker, has hit back at reports that it overcharges customers in its home market of China, attributing the higher prices to the cost of local services and promotional activities

The notion that Lenovo's products are more expensive in China compared to other countries "is not precise or correct," state-backed Beijing Youth Daily reported a representative from the Beijing-based firm as saying, adding that most of its mainstream models such as ThinPads are sold in China at a price equal to or lower than those in the US when excluding the cost of promotional activities.

For the pricing of products sold domestically, the company adopts a price including taxes, while prices abroad do not include taxes and or additional hardware service due to differences in business customers, the representative said, adding that this difference has led to the customers' misunderstandings.

Apart from prices, the products and services available in China and other countries differ. Customers should not only focus on the absolute value of hardware when talking about the selling prices, the company said, adding that ThinkPads in the Chinese market include integrated solutions.

Lenovo provides more complete product portfolios for domestic ThinkPad users to better serve them and promote the quality of services including the pre-installation of relevant software and accessories. The company also offers value-added services such as accident protection, in-home services, and data recovery.

Some consumers compare Huawei's cellphones with Lenovo's laptops, stating that Huawei's global pricing is higher than those at home and question Lenovo's justification for not adjusting prices in the domestic market in a similar fashion. Lenovo did not respond directly to this question but noted that firms are in their respective stages of development and there are differences in their positioning, selling policies, market share in domestic and global markets as well as aims. The personal computer is a comprehensively competitive market so all the pricing should be compliant with rules of the market.

Lenovo has starts promotional activities on its US official website for the upcoming Black Friday sales. The firm has brought in 35 percent discounts on laptops, desktops and accessories with the cheapest laptop available for USD270.

The company will freeze Chinese consumers out of the Black Friday sales by cancelling orders made through Chinese credit cards or those with Chinese billing addresses.

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Keywords:   Lenovo