EXCLUSIVE: TP Link On Shakey Ground At Harvey Norman As Sales Slip
A shakeup is tipped for the networking channel with Harvey Norman who has already dropped TP Link products in New Zealand, tipped to be close to dropping the network brand from the big retailers Australia stores according to sources.
ChannelNews also believes that TP Link who are seen as a discount networking Company who do little external marketing are also struggling in the specialist IT channel where in the past, they have achieved sales growth.
The Company also lost one of their senior executives last year who had been responsible for growing the Companies business in Australia.
According to sources one of the main concerns is the price point between network products sold by Netgear, D Link and Linksys and what TP Link offer.
A top end TP Link AC 5400 is currently selling for $498 at Harvey Norman while a top end Triband Netgear Orbi is selling for $849 and a D Link Cobra for $749.
The problem according to Harvey Norman sources is that the TP Link product due to a lack of marketing is seen as a “cheap bottom end networking product” that is suffering because when consumers search for networking information they are not seen as a mainstream networking brand.
“They lack any brand clout with consumers and what happens is that we end up selling a $189 or $167 TP link product vs a premium to the “consumer looking for a discount”. The other problem is that the cheap TP Link product takes up the same space on the floor as a premium product that delivers more margin.
ChannelNews understands that one of the main reasons that TP Link were given space at Harvey Norman is that they were prepared to “incentivise” the retailer to range their products.
The move comes as retailers move to expand their range of connected network gear.
Neville Wang the Managing Director at TP-Link Australia has not responded to our request for a comment.
At CES Netgear who split their Australian business in half last year with the Arlo brand being spun off to a new Company, showed a new range of Orbi and Nighthawk products including a new Orbi Alexa enabled network speaker as well as a new outdoor Orbi router.
At the premium end of the network market D Link who had double digit growth in 2018 is looking to “significantly” expand their share of the Australian and New Zealand markets with a range of new products spanning routers, cameras and new secure network gear.
According to Graeme Reardon Managing Director of D Link Australia, 2019 is set to be a big year for the Taiwanese brand with the Company set to release their biggest range of new products “for several years said Reardon.
He claims that D Link is on par with Netgear when it comes to delivering margin for retailers and that their new range will deliver depth and a new range of products this year that includes new built in McFee security capabilities for home networks.
