backtop

IT Dell to Go Retail
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - May 21, 2007 3:17 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 71 comment(s) - last by Oregonian2.. on May 23 at 2:33 PM
Dell aims to sell PCs at big box retailers

Since its inception, Dell Inc. made itself famous for pioneering the direct-sales model, selling directly to customers and skipping the sales channel altogether. Last year however, Dell watched its numbers dwindle compared to long time rival HP, losing both revenue and market share. Couple Dell's market performance with an investigation into its financial practices, and Dell's former CEO Kevin Rollins resigned from the company, leaving Michael Dell to take back the helm.

Dell's return as CEO to the company he founded is already making waves. Dell this week announced that along with its current method of sales, it will now look into selling through retail channels.

Retail is not entirely new to Dell. The company has kiosks in shopping centers throughout the U.S. and Canada, promoting its line of desktops, notebooks and even flat screen televisions. Dell says its kiosks bring in a good amount of business, if not directly then at least by promoting awareness of the company for sales online.

Dell sent a memo throughout the company this week hinting at the changes within the company and its goal to reach a wider audience. The fact remains that a lot of customers still want to see and touch before putting down their hard earned money. Dell indicated that it was already in touch with several big-box retailers and that there would be an aggressive push into the retail channel.

"The direct model was a revolution. It's not a religion," said Dell. Analysts are curious to see what implications the move will have on Dell's direct sales as well as its competition.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Ah, nice!
By Josh7289 on 5/21/2007 4:01:18 PM , Rating: 2
Competition!




RE: Ah, nice!
By bkiserx7 on 5/21/2007 4:16:39 PM , Rating: 2
Dell is good at what they do, and honestly I would rather see a Dell in Wally World then see a posE-Machine.


RE: Ah, nice!
By frobizzle on 5/21/2007 4:54:38 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Dell is good at what they do, and honestly I would rather see a Dell in Wally World then see a posE-Machine.


Oh please! How are Dell POS crap boxes any better or worse than E-Machines (known in some circles as Squatting Dragon Brand?)


RE: Ah, nice!
By retrospooty on 5/21/2007 6:10:47 PM , Rating: 3
Actually, Dell isnt as bad as they used to be. They certainly arent top of the line overclocking machines, but they are reliable and perform as they should for basic PC's. I am glad to see this move.


RE: Ah, nice!
By GoatMonkey on 5/22/2007 8:54:02 AM , Rating: 2
And when they do break, the support guys have had enough time to improve their English that you might be able to understand them now.


RE: Ah, nice!
By retrospooty on 5/22/2007 10:10:32 AM , Rating: 2
LOL... I dont know about thier support, like most companies its a crap shoot. You might get an idiot, or you might get lucky.


RE: Ah, nice!
By kingpotnoodle on 5/22/2007 7:32:20 AM , Rating: 2
Bought some Dell desktops for work recently, the spec was higher than I could have done had I bought parts, the build quality was excellent for the money and the machines were tidy inside and well put together, I was pleasantly suprised.

It's never going to be a company making first class custom built enthusiast machines - but for average joe and IT managers who need cheap workstations they are doing a good job in my opinion.


RE: Ah, nice!
By Tsuwamono on 5/21/2007 5:05:08 PM , Rating: 5
why does it matter if the POS has a dell logo or E-Machine?


RE: Ah, nice!
By bigboxes on 5/21/2007 6:05:52 PM , Rating: 3
Dell. E-machines. What's the difference?


RE: Ah, nice!
By piroroadkill on 5/21/2007 7:06:39 PM , Rating: 1
Dell is much better than e-Machines in build quality


RE: Ah, nice!
By frobizzle on 5/21/2007 8:49:51 PM , Rating: 2
And what do you base that statement on?


RE: Ah, nice!
By radams on 5/21/2007 8:54:15 PM , Rating: 2
Consumer reports


RE: Ah, nice!
By mxzrider2 on 5/21/2007 11:42:39 PM , Rating: 1
CR is the worst thing ever. read up on a magazine made for computers not lame people that don't know the difference between black plastic and white plastic


RE: Ah, nice!
By jtesoro on 5/22/2007 12:54:24 AM , Rating: 3
There are benefits of evaluating products from a purely "ordinary consumer" perspective. There's generally little hype, and evaluations are based simply on whether it meets one's needs at the right price. Considering a huge percentage of people aren't enthusiasts, then that kind of reporting is very useful.


RE: Ah, nice!
By Zelvek on 5/22/2007 12:07:59 AM , Rating: 2
Well let me tell you as a technician that dells are the worst (along with gateway) of all the PCs i have had the displeasure of servicing.


RE: Ah, nice!
By TSS on 5/22/2007 6:52:35 AM , Rating: 2
you obviously have never ever tried to replace anything inside a packard (h)bell machine.


RE: Ah, nice!
By frobizzle on 5/22/2007 7:54:35 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
you obviously have never ever tried to replace anything inside a packard (h)bell machine.

I have. It is no worse or better than some Dells, Compaqs, HPs, Gateways, E-Machines and others I have worked on. It is just difficult to articulate the difference from one garbage machine to the next. All these low-end, appeal-to-the-non-geek masses PCs are little more than expensive door stops.


RE: Ah, nice!
By Oregonian2 on 5/22/2007 6:01:43 PM , Rating: 2
If I had to suggest (over the phone) a brand for my Mother (who lives in a different state) to buy which would you suggest? Needs to cost about the same as one of those lower cost Dells (etc). Would need to be serviced professionally where she lives (by folks like you). I build all of my own, and have since my first 8088 based machine, but I don't live anywhere near where she does (takes a few hours of plane ride). I don't know the innards of today's commercially available stuff.

So who makes/sells something she can buy on her own -- but doesn't cost much? When my father was still alive, he was an AOL'er, so use that as a gauge of non-sophistication.

In your opnion, does anyone make non-crap for this market, or is it just that everything commercial is crap at this sort of price-point?


RE: Ah, nice!
By Webgod on 5/23/2007 9:46:33 AM , Rating: 2
Buy Local / Buy American (No Acer)
http://www.localpcbuilder.com/find_pcb.aspx


RE: Ah, nice!
By Oregonian2 on 5/23/2007 2:33:09 PM , Rating: 2
My mother, who can maybe operate the "on" button is not going into a localbuilder shop, I can almost guarantee it?

I think that's a good answer technically, and one that I've
thought of (my first PC-XT was from such a place way back when -- and I had a
local non-profit I'm associated with buy their computer from such a place fairly
recently), but I still can't imagine it for the mass market sort
of folk that my mother represents.

Folks like her want a brand name they recognize and gives them a feeling of continuity of service after the purchase (no "contact the manufacturer of the CDROM for a firmware update..."). "Firmware.. is that some kind of weirdo clothes?". They're buying an microwave oven, they want "panasonic", "kenmore", etc, not "Local-Joe's oven shop". If it doesn't boot or work for any reason, just gets taken in to somewhere that they're confident it'll be fixed (that they're charged $150 to reseat a cable isn't significant, it'd sound really impressive to them!). They want a computer appliance, one they use. A tool rather than a toy or entertainment device.

Actually, she's wanting a HDTV installed (her old CRT based one is going south, or "green" more precisely). She'll only be buying one where the store will come out and install it for her (hook to the audio equipment, etc). She's not "unusual" for the non-technically inclined. But then if I wanted an oil portrait painting, I'd have a professional go make one for me -- she'd get out the oils and paint one. Each has their own talents.