Dell to stick with direct sales in China
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(InfoWorld) - Is DellÂ ready to abandon its direct sales model to boost its prospects in China? The company says no. Several Chinese media outlets recently reported Dell is in talks to buy Chinese PC maker Founder Technology Group, citing a report by a Chinese newspaper, National Business Daily. The newspaper did not name its source and appears to have removed at least one related story, published on Dec. 15, from its Web site. A Dell acquisition of Founder would leave the U.S. PC vendor with a nationwide network of retail shops in China, ending its long-standing reliance on direct sales. Sharon Zhang, a spokeswoman for Dell China, declined to comment on the acquisition reports, but said the company has no plans to change its direct sales model. "We are committed to the direct sales model in China," Zhang said. Founder executives in Beijing could not immediately be reached for comment. During 2005, Founder was the second-largest PC vendor in China with 12.3 percent of the market, according to industry analyst IDC. The company trailed Lenovo Group, which held 32.8 percent of the market, and managed to stay one step ahead of Dell, which was the largest foreign PC vendor in the country, with an 8.8 percent share of the market, IDC said. While rumors of Dell's interest circulate, Chinese media reported that at least one Chinese company is interested in Founder. The China Business News newspaper reported Monday that Haier Corp. was in talks to acquire Founder, citing an inside source at the consumer electronics and whitegoods producer based in Qingdao, northern China. Haier could not be reached for comment.
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Dell Inc.'s  recall of computers fitted with Sony Corp.  batteries will not impact its brand in Japan, where two Dell computers are reported to have caught fire, the head of its local unit said on Tuesday.
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TigerDirect.com, a leading retailer for consumer electronics and  technology products, has announced that it is now a Toshiba Consumer  Electronics Direct Account and will start selling a range of Toshiba  products including HDTVs, HD-DVD Players, DVD Players and DVRs.
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Dell is recalling some of the one million electrical adapters manufactured in China by Delta Electronics of Taipei and sold for use with Dell notebook computers, following seven reports of the adapters overheating.
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Dell Inc., the world's second-largest computer maker, said on Thursday it will soon start selling its laptops and desktops at Asian retail chains and stores.
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Dell will sell its PCs through Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, breaking with 23 years of direct sales tradition.
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Dell Inc. , the world's  largest PC maker, said on Monday it has left the low-end  consumer PC market in China and cut its overall growth target  for the country this year due to stiff competition in the  segment.
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By Loren Steffy, Houston Chronicle  May 30--Dell may be losing its religion, but Wal-Mart is an unlikely savior.   Last week, the computer maker, known for its direct sales by phone and the Internet, said it would begin selling PCs through the discount chain.
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Dell Inc. expects shipments of personal computers, notebooks and servers in Asia excluding China, Japan and South Korea to grow almost 20 percent in 2007, a company executive said Thursday.
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Dell Inc. , the world's  second-largest computer maker, said on Thursday it will soon  start selling its laptops and desktops at Asian retail chains  and stores.
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(InfoWorld) - Underlining its expansion from online to retail sales, Dell launched desktop and notebook PCs Tuesday at Macy's department store in New York. The company announced nine new Inspiron desktops and notebooks and an XPS M1330 notebook, all available in a choice of eight shell colors. "The Dell of today is vastly different from the Dell of six months ago or even last week," said Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dellâs consumer product group. "We're here at Macy's in New York City. That alone is different for Dell, being in a department store or any kind of retail setting at all." Dell even set up a portable kiosk to take orders for the new PCs in a temporary space it will occupy at Macy's for the next two weeks, he said. The new Inspiron notebooks cost $749 for the model 1521 to $999 for the model 1720, with a choice of processors from Intel or Advanced Micro Devices. The Inspiron 1420 comes with an additional choice of Microsoft's Windows Vista or the Ubuntu Linux operating system, for $799. The Inspiron desktops start at $349 for models 530, 530s, 531, and 531s, all supporting up to 500GB of disk space to store digital media files, with the model 530 offering a choice between Windows and Linux. The XPS M1330 notebook costs $1,299 with a 13.3-inch widescreen display, weighs under 4 pounds, and comes with a one-year subscription to Dell's Online Backup service, where users can store 10GB of files on Dell servers for remote data access. In an effort to bolster its sliding market share and quarterly profits,Â Dell began selling certain PC models at Wal-MartÂ retail stores on June 10, marking the first time it had strayed from the direct sales model. Dell rose to prominence by cutting its costs through eliminating retail middlemen and selling its PCs through only its Web site, phone lines, and catalogs. That system began to fail in 2006, as competitors cut costs and Hewlett-Packard passed Dell to become the world's largest PC vendor. Now Dell is in the midst of a corporate reorganization announced May 31 that includesÂ laying off 10 percent of its 88,100 workers. Dell hopes its new retail presence will allow it to fix a strategic mistake. By trying to beat its competitors through low prices in recent years, Dell found itself spending all its publicity efforts promoting its least exciting products, Gruzen said. Selling PCs in retail stores gives Dell an opportunity to showcase its premium PC models and bring new luster to its corporate image at the same time. "This is really just a hint of what we're doing to get these exciting new products into customers' hands," Gruzen said. "We have a broader retail strategy, and over the coming months, we will announce more partnerships, both with Wal-Mart and with other retailers." Also on Tuesday, Dell unveiled a new marketing tagline -- "yours is here" -- that shares many values with HP's "the computer is personal again" campaign. Both companies are increasing the number of options they give customers to personalize PCs and bundling tools that make it easier to handle personal tasksÂ such asÂ digital photos and music as well as business jobs. Dell emphasized those increased choices with its color options for each PC, including pink, yellow, green, red, and blue, as well as standard white and black. An increasing number of PC vendors will soon begin to follow that pattern, trying to differentiate themselves with flashy style and design instead of solely through technical detailsÂ such asÂ processing power, according to a report released this week by Forrester Research. "The consumer PC industry is entering the Age of Style, a time in which radical form factor innovations, increased aesthetic diversity, and consumer choice and personalization will determine which models, and which PC vendors, win or lose," Forrester analyst J.P. Gownder said in the report.
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Dell Inc  said it would  sell personal computers, printers, monitors and ink supplies in  1,400 Staples Inc  stores in the United States, its  latest move into retail after breaking from 23 years of selling  directly to consumers.
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By REXCRUM  SAN FRANCISCO - Dell Inc., the world's No. 2 personal-computer company, said Thursday that it will begin selling PCs on the shelves of retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in a deal that breaks with its longtime direct model of making computers on order for customers.
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InfoWorld - Dell plans to sell computers with preinstalled Linux outside the U.S. as well as offer the Ubuntu Linux distribution to small business customers.
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While rival Dell is turning to the retail channel to boost sales, Gateway said that it has begun selling into China.
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Dell Inc , the world's No.2  personal computer maker, said it would sell its latest range  through China's largest electronics retailer, GOME Group,  aiming to improve on its single-digit mainland market share.
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Would you buy a Dell (DELL) PC from a sales associate in a blue vest? Dell's main method for selling computers-directly from the manufacturer-isn't getting the job done, so the Round Rock [Tex.] PC maker found a partner to help push its machines: Wal-Mart (WMT).