HP Says Channel To Fuel Double-Digit Printer Growth

Despite an uncertain economy, Rich Raimondi, HP's vice president and general manager, U.S. commercial business, Imagining and Printing Group (IPG), said the vendor was not backing off its plan to grow its imaging business by 10 percent next year.

Raimondi said HP's IPG business, the strongest in the company, is the one within HP that most depends on the channel. Currently, 97 percent of IPG's worldwide business goes through the channel, he said. "We didn't get 70 percent [market share by ourselves," he said.

Added Chris Morgan, HP's vice president of sales and marketing, IPG: "Market coverage is so fundamental to our business success that there is no way we could get this coverage without strong channel partners.

"We are not going to change our basic channel strategy," he said.

Raimondi noted that 35 percent to 40 percent of IPG's business in North America is in the SMB market. "The best way to reach that SMB market is through a broad reach and distribution--and our two-tier distribution partners do an exceptional job," he said.

Raimondi said one of his strategies for growth in 2003 is to engage more of HP's 1,300 enterprise partners, which can help IPG products and solutions get into more verticals such as health care.