Lenovo Pledges Balance In Best Buy Arrangement

The move prompted Alan Weinberger, chairman of the 2,000-strong ASCII Group, a small-business solution provider co-op, to issue an e-mail charging the move will “kill our sales.” Later, Weinberger said ASCII will work with Lenovo to find ways to “protect” its membership.

Under the pact, Best Buy is selling Lenovo’s ThinkPad notebooks, ThinkCentre desktops and the Lenovo 3000 line in its Best Buy For Business centers in 135 storefronts, as well as through a call center and a special Web site.

This is the Research Triangle Park, N.C., company’s second foray into retail. It began selling ThinkPads through Office Depot last November. But the decision to sell through Best Buy, the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer known for its low prices, turned more heads.

Best Buy For Business offers customers a 2 percent to 5 percent mailed rebate on sales, according to in-store information.

Stephen Mungall, Lenovo Americas vice president, route and transaction sales strategy, said Best Buy will not have a pricing advantage over Lenovo VARs. Best Buy will source products from distributors just as solution providers do, he said.

Mungall said Lenovo has minimum advertised pricing restrictions that will apply to Best Buy. Furthermore, he said, Lenovo will watch closely to make sure solution provider margins are not impacted. “The pricing is no different,” he said. “There is nothing that disadvantages a VAR vs. Best Buy.”

Todd Barrett, a manager at CPU Sales and Service, Waltham, Mass., said he stopped worrying about retailers long ago. “Some folks will always buy according to cost,” he said. “They’ll surf the Internet, whether it’s Best Buy or Dell.com ... Best Buy is just one more in the saturated retail market selling stuff. Just one more fish in a large pond whoring the price.”

But Jay Tipton, vice president of business solutions for Technology Specialists, Fort Wayne, Ind., said Lenovo’s shift is a concern. Ultimately, his opinion about the deal will be largely determined by the pricing Lenovo offers Best Buy. “I want it to be a fair playing field,” he said.

Other solution providers, who asked not to be identified, expressed skepticism about Lenovo’s pricing commitment. “Do you think Lenovo is not giving Best Buy a better price?” said one. “Come on.”

KRISTEN KENEDY, STEVEN BURKE, JOSEPH F. KOVAR and EDWARD F. MOLTZEN contributed to this story.