Industry executives and market trackers said the initiative will help boost the total addressable market for IT hardware brands, at a time when shipments have been declining in India on account of poor demand, and brands being pushed by the government to take up local assembly of products.
“With the increase in the number of individuals opting for refurbished laptops in the city, we wanted to build an avenue that extends products that have undergone robust checks to ensure that they can access premium quality laptops and PCs,” said Arnold Su, vice president, consumer and gaming PCs at Asus. He said the demand for refurbished laptops is far outstripping supply.
“The refurbished laptop sales range around 5-6 lakh units in a year, while we are only able to supply around 1,000-2,000 units in amonth,” he said. Asus is now exploring ways to ramp up this segment by taking in older devices that have been in use for a few years and refurbishing them, to address the high demand. The second quarter of 2023 saw the fourth consecutive quarterly decline of 15.3% on-year, as per IDC, with the consumer segment seeing a steep 17% on-year decline. “Recognising the limited PC adoption in rural and smaller towns, we aim to transform this landscape. Our new initiative is asignificant step in our ongoing mission to bring affordable technology to everyone. It’s a game-changer for those facing financial constraints, opening doors to PC usage,” said Gurpreet Singh Brar, vice president, HP India Market. The company, which is also the market leader in the laptop and PC segment, introduced refurbished laptops in India on Thursday through certified partners who will sell these affordable products to retail customers and businesses. HP is also offering refurbished laptops and PCs to small businesses and customers on a subscription model of 6, 12, or 24 months with an initial focus on notebooks and with the scope of expanding to other categories in the future. The company said its certified partners will source devices from enterprise and retail customers and refurbish them as per the standards defined by the company, post which, these products will be put up for sale with “comprehensive post-sales support, including warranty”.
“A latent demand for refurbished laptops and PCs has been there since the pandemic, but the sector is extremely unorganised. A rough estimate would be around 300,000-400,000 units in a quarter, but that number is rapidly increasing because of the digitalisation trends among small businesses and in the education sector,” said Bharath Shenoy, principal analyst, PC segment, at IDC India.
He added that the reason for brands entering the refurbished space with their own stores is to make the segment more organised, and to target new customers. “Mostly people who have been using smartphones or tablets to attend online classes are the ones to get a refurbished laptop. And once they use it for a few years, it builds loyalty towards the brand with strong potential to purchase a new laptop down the line.”
While HP is targeting customers with refurbished entry-level IT products, Asus has been opening retail stores that exclusively sell refurbished laptops and PCs, with a focus on pushing its premium range at a lower cost. “While we have a broad range of refurbished products at our Asus Select Stores, consumers are primarily buying our premium laptops which are being offered at a 20-30% lesser cost along with company warranty,” said Asus’ Su.
The company’s model of refurbishing currently centres around repairing the products that are returned by customers within a week of buying due to them having manufacturing defects. The company then replaces the parts that are faulty and sells them through the new retail store. The Taiwanese company has opened three such stores in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai, with a fourth store under construction in Hyderabad.
