Dell Sales Slow in Consumer Market
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Dell Inc.  on Thursday reported a higher quarterly operating profit, but slow holiday sales and a new growth target that disappointed Wall Street sent its shares down 3 percent.
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Today, the first preliminary numbers for worldwide PC unit shipments from electronics research firm iSuppli are in: Dell lost 1.6% in global PC market share between 2005 and 2006, and its PC shipments declined 8.6% for the year. Hewlett-Packard, meanwhile, gained 2.7% of market share for the year, and shipped more than 20% more PCs than Dell during the fourth quarter.
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Analysis: Customers and the industry give Dell credit for reinventing itself, but support and supply issues linger.
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Direct sales aren't working the same magic they once did for the PC maker. Can it now cash in at retail?
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Michael Dell replaced Kevin Rollins as CEO of Dell Inc. on Wednesday as the No. 2 PC maker struggles with missteps in the U.S. consumer market and lost market share to Hewlett-Packard Co..
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Dell has taken an aggressive pricing strategy in its competition with Apple in the music player space. Jupiter Research analyst Joe Wilcox reported in his blog today that Dell has dropped pricing on the 15
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(InfoWorld) - Even as PC sales continue double-digit growth, industry revenue is likely to decline 2.5 percent to US$198.5 billion in 2006, according to a forecast released Friday by Gartner Inc. Worldwide PC shipments are scheduled to rise 10.5 percent over last year, reaching 233.7 million units. The disparity comes because PC vendors have been slashing the prices of desktops and notebooks as they hustle to compete with each other. Another force pushing computer prices down is a series of recent price cuts by Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on their processors, the most expensive part of a PC. Now, as the holiday sales season approaches, things could get even worse for vendors like Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. In additional to wrestling with each other, they will also have to compete with consumer electronics companies, said George Shiffler, a research director at Gartner. Shoppers have a limited number of dollars to spend on electronics. That spells trouble for PC vendors since the price of a low-end desktop is comparable to a smartphone and its accompanying service contract, he said. Flat panel TVs will also compete with PCs, since excess production capacity has lowered LCD (liquid crystal display) prices and producers are expected to cut prices further with aggressive holiday discounts. Even Microsoft Corp.'s impending launch of the new Vista OS will produce only a temporary rise in sales, Shiffler said. The Gartner study echoes weak financial results at Dell, the world's largest PC vendor. Dell blamed cost cutting and weak demand for $14.1 billion in revenue for the quarter ended Aug. 4. That number was up only 5 percent over the same period last year although Dell sold 11.6 percent more computers worldwide, climbing from 8.7 million in the second quarter of 2005 to 9.7 million this year. Looking past 2006, the flood of low-cost PCs will drive brisk sales in emerging markets through 2008, but mature markets like the U.S. will soon slump to single-digit growth, Gartner said.
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Dell and HP reported revenue declines while EMC and IBM posted gains in storage hardware sales in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to IDC.
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Dell Inc. (DELL.O), the world's largest PC maker, could announce an expanded selection of its consumer electronics line in the next several weeks, a retail industry analyst said on Wednesday.
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Dell Inc. DELL.O plans to open its   own retail stores on a city-by-city basis and does not expect   to sell its personal computers through shops like Best Buy Co.   BBY.N, a senior executive said on Tuesday.
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Growth in U.S. consumer electronics sales is likely to slow in 2008 but still come in at 6.1 percent, fueled by strong demand for products like televisions and personal audio devices, an industry trade group said on Monday.
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Since January of this year, Dell Computer has been tailoring its sales model to fit changing market dynamics. Its very successful direct sales approach is simply not the best way to get through to certain markets. China is a shining example of this, and Dell announced today that it will distribute PCs through Gome, China's largest consumer electronics retailer.
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SAN FRANCISCO -  Business computer-maker Dell plans to start aggressively courting consumers Tuesday- in part with new laptops colored flamingo pink. The No. 2 PC maker has always offered some consumer computers. But they tended to be offshoots of its business products, and usually amounted to only 15% of U.S. sales.
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Stocks to watch on Friday: DELL INC.  DELL.O: The top personal computer maker's earnings on  Thursday reflected slow sales in the consumer market, and its  revenue missed analysts' estimates. Its forecast for the first  quarter was also disappointing to Wall Street.
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Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) is giving its corporate customers a break, announcing price cuts on hardware ranging from enterprise servers and workstations, to desktops and notebooks for large business and institutional customers.
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Budget competition from other consumer electronics devices is among factors lowering sales estimates.
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Stock futures pointed to flat open on  Friday after top personal computer maker Dell Inc. DELL.O  posted earnings that reflected slow sales in the consumer  market and offered an outlook that disappointed Wall Street.