Rising memory crunch makes refurbished equipment look less secondhand to cost-conscious buyers

Costs encourage longer equipment use

Higher memory prices are steering more customers toward refurbished technology, according to suppliers. At the same time, businesses are holding on to equipment longer amid economic uncertainty. Ben Caddy, a senior analyst at Omdia, said suppliers are connecting refresh discussions with ways to recover value from customers’ older equipment. He predicted that by 2030, partners would take back 35 percent of all hardware sold for the channel, citing the economic value of recovery and circular IT lifecycles.

Caddy said taking back equipment can help customers free up capital for relatively small refresh plans. He made the remarks while hosting a circular IT panel at last month’s Canalys Forums in Barcelona.

Warranties build confidence

The shift toward reused equipment also applies to PCs and other products, said Jon Sansom, managing director at GreenSafe IT. “Availability is a challenge,” Sansom said. XTENTEC collects, refurbishes, rents and resells equipment. The company has an agreement with HP to renovate aging products, and warranties lasting two or even three years are available as a standard option, described as “just an SKU on the list from HP.”

Trust and sustainability matter

Customers want to reduce their carbon footprint, and many public- and private-sector tenders require it. Patrick Molberg, CEO of Advania Finance, said trust remains the most important consideration for many buyers.

Molberg said work on verification standards with HP, Lenovo and Dell is ongoing. He also argued that lifecycle services should be part of purchasing decisions from the start, rather than being added three or four years later.