Dell Inc. is moving forward with plans to begin selling PCs through solution providers, channel partners and retail partners, instead of sticking with the pure direct sales model championed by company founder Michael Dell.
The decision will change the dynamics in an industry where Dell has until now made an end-run around the outlets and resellers that sell PCs from competitors such as Hewlett-Packard Co., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Acer Inc. Now Dell has plans to augment its existing direct sales by seeking growth through those solution partners as well as retail outlets in the U.S. and abroad, according to a blog posting written Wednesday by Lionel Menchaca, Dell’s digital media manager.
Dell will not be starting from scratch; the company already sells about US$4 billion of computers through its solution partners each year in North America alone, Menchaca said.Although Dell watched its share of global PC sales fall behind HP’s in the second half of 2006, the company still shipped more than 39 million PCs in 2006, representing 16.3 percent of the global market, according to iSuppli Corp.
Dell’s move has investors wondering about the effect of the change on other vendors. HP chief executive Mark Hurd declined to comment on Wednesday when stock analysts asked him about the impact of Dell’s new strategy.
Source: PC World