HP Faces Criticism for Sudden Withdrawal from Russian Market
After more than two years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, HP has officially withdrawn from the Russian market, including Belarus. The tech giant had suspended operations in these countries back in 2022, but has now completely exited the market, closing its official website for drivers and technical support.
However, HP’s decision to shut down its official website without warning has sparked criticism from local technology news website C-News. The website stated that HP chose to do everything secretly, leaving users without any notice of the impending shutdown. This stands in contrast to Microsoft, who gave users a week to find alternative cloud service providers before leaving.
C-News also highlighted the controversy surrounding HP’s printer ink ordering policy, remarking that “HP is boycotting Russia, but the whole world is boycotting HP.” Despite bringing in about US$1 billion in annual revenue from Russia and Belarus, HP announced its departure from these markets in March 2022.
Although HP ceased supplying goods to these countries, the impact was minimal as parallel importers continued to bring HP products to Russia and Belarus for sale. After closing the official websites in these countries, users are now redirected to HP’s official website in Kazakhstan, where they can still download drivers but will not have access to online support.
The move comes after HP’s market share in the Russian printer market dropped from 36% to 21% after suspending operations. China’s Pantum now holds the top spot with a 53% market share, followed by Epson at 22.1%.
As HP navigates the consequences of its withdrawal from the Russian market, the tech industry will be closely watching how this decision impacts both the company and the market as a whole.
Source: techspot