May 24th, 2007
Dell to Sell Desktop PCs in Wal-Mart Stores
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
It’s been rumored for a while that as part of the “recovery plan” Dell was instituting, to bring itself back to a leadership role in PCs, it would begin selling in retail channels. Well, if you’re gonna do that, how about picking the biggest retailer? Wal-Mart.
Computer maker Dell Inc. plans to start selling personal computers at 3,000 Wal-Mart stores in the United States and Canada as of June 10, launching a major drive to sell its PCs through retailers, a company spokesman said on Thursday. Source: Reuters
We Say: The desktop will be the E521, with and without a monitor. More models to come? Who knows, but this isn’t a gamer’s box so I’m still not tempted to go to Wal-Mart. 
Freud says:
Dell destroyed their name by selling cheap PC’s, while leaving the uneducated buyer with the impression that they were getting the quality that was once associated with Dell products. This is just another step down that wrong path.
May 24th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Charles says:
Maybe, maybe not. Your average consumer does not buy a computer through mail order. Dell tried their own kiosks and store fronts with no success. So what next?
They need a store presence somewhere so why not go with the world’s largest retailer.
Seems like a reasonable decision to me. I don’t see how BestBuy, Fry’s, Target, Circuity City, or Kmart would be any better.
May 24th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Resolver says:
Walmart used to sell HP computers (desktop and laptop) some years ago. The one near us doesn’t seem to carry them any more. They do have some small LCD monitors, accessories, etc.
I’m not sure that computers are so easily mass marketed the way that household products are - BestBuy and Fry’s do have counters dedicated to hand-holding customers through support issues. I have yet to see that at a Walmart, Target, or Kmart. This could change, of course.
May 25th, 2007 at 6:09 am
Freud says:
I agree, Resolver. There will not be staff available to help people make the proper decisions on what they are buying.
A computer is not a toaster. The tendency of people who will buy from a mass retailer will be to expect it to BE just like a toaster. Plug it in and it makes toast.
I’d love to see a statistical survey of computer owners who have had there systems turned into spambots, or otherwise hijacked by infestations, How many are owned by people who purchased them via retail outlet? How many of them maintained their AV security after the trial software expired?
May 25th, 2007 at 7:28 am
Charles says:
Is anyone here saying they trust any in-store retail sales person when it comes to information about a desktop or laptop?
What I think is the usual scenario is that the person that knows nothing about computer hardware brings their friend or relative with them to “check it out”.
Also, people are usually buying to a price, so unless they have some specific requirement in mind, they will buy the computer that falls comfortably in their price range.
Why do they need in-store help?
For most people, the damn thing IS a toaster. Most people use it for MS Office, browsing the web, and turbo tax. Any computer on the market now does all of those things very easily. Their biggest concern is probably what size monitor it comes with.
Regardless of the hardware spec, the majority of Wal-Mart shoppers needs will be met by that Dell E521.
May 25th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Freud says:
Sorry Charles but most people buying pc’s in retail stores are NOT showing up with someone who knows PC’s. Ever stood in a retail store and watched people trying to buy one? I have. It isn’t pretty.
Retail stores where there is at least semi-knowledgeable staff? Well, Circuit City used too, but they fired a lot of them. Best Buy? Nope. Staples? (Sells mainly laptops nowadays) I’ve been surprised by how well some of the staff have been trained there… for a retail establishment.
Back to MOST people. You seem to miss the obvious; they tend to have KIDS. What do kids do, besides download malware infested junk from the Internet? They play games and load up the computer with music and video. They ca’t remember to look both ways to cross the street but they sure can load up bit torrent in the blink of an eye. LOL
If Dell righted their ship first (fixed their customer service mess) there would be nothing wrong with venturing into the retail market.
May 26th, 2007 at 12:03 am
Charles says:
Freud,
I’m sure there are people that go to stores without friend or family assistance. The world does not deal in absolutes. However, over the past three years 4 family members and 2 friends have asked me to ‘take a look’ at a system before they buy it. You won’t see those people lining up to for help at Wal-Mart.
What does fixing their “customer service” mess have to do with going into the retail market? That doesn’t do anything to address your original issue of a lack of knowledgeable sales help at the store level.
Dell made a good move with this one. They will sell more units and maybe that will lead to up-selling of other Dell products.
Have to make a mental note to watch their earnings reports over the next few quarters. Their stock might actually do something.
May 26th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Freud says:
It probably will get a market spike. This is a move to appease the stockholders. It has nothing to do with improving the company. You know as well as I do, Charles, this spike will not be a true indicator for Dell stock. A better indication is insider moves and institutional repositioning regarding the stock.
The customer service angle? I’d love to see the stats on CS calls from new, retail purchasers. Their only contact with Dell will be through that phone call. If CS cannot help them then their chance of being a repeat customer goes way down.
May 27th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Charles says:
As far as a bump in sales being a ’spike’, well, those are your words. It remains to be seen whether this will work for Dell at all, or become an ongoing increase in sales.
Insider trades are fairly random so not much use for analysis (imho). The institutional support definitely is important though, and as we speak, they are accumulating Dell. Keep an eye out for Dell to break through resistance on big volume at $27.
But first they will need to improve the earnings situation for that to happen.
No doubt Wal-Mart is squeezing Dell’s already tight margins, so when does this pay off for them? My guess is that the E521 is there to test the waters. If that works, then Wal-Mart may bring in Dell’s higher margin plasma TVs, printers and branded cartridges, and whatever else will fly out the door.
Sure it’s a move to increase sales and ultimately please stockholders. What’s wrong with that? It’s what they should be doing.
May 27th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Resolver says:
Just more of my 2 cents on Dell selling at Wal-mart:
o In order to succeed, there will need to be some sort of prominent kiosk or the like to showcase the computer. Wal-mart does have the major game consoles setup for kids to play, but I would argue that this is to sell more games in volume rather than the consoles themselves. They also give decent display space to flat-screen tvs which I would argue are a simpler, easier to sell product.
o When Wal-mart carried the HP systems, I don’t ever remember any descent display setup for them; rather, I had bumped into them still in the box in an aisle. Reading the box and comparing the price, I thought that the price seemed decent for the features, but that only prompted me to do further research online. Mostly, I noticed that the systems went unnoticed by most shoppers.
o Profile-wise, Wal-mart is not the first choice store that comes to mind when making a computer purchase. Granted, a system is no longer the big ticket item it used to be, but the complexity involved and the in store maintenance required makes it a more difficult product to manage. There are certain products that Wal-mart simply doesn’t generally get involved with for various reasons (large appliances like washers/dryers come to mind-at least not in my area). But simple and regularly purchased products like food do seem to be given increasing floor space.
o I’d think that #2 retailer Target might have a better chance at this as their stores seem to have a better layout for electronics at least the one near us (I’m thinking of the digicam counter specifically).
o Having said all of this, I do remember an out-of-town Sam’s Club (Wal-mart owned if I’m not mistaken) that did have an impressive selection of computers, monitors, and other accessories. Likewise, the Costco near us does have a display for notebook and desktop systems. Maybe the shopper profile differs between the retail and warehouse outlets?
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June 27th, 2007 at 11:44 am
» Dell, Staples in Retail Deal » Blog Archive Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech says:
[…] In May, Dell and Wal-Mart penned a deal for Dell to sell computers through Wal-Mart stores. In June that deal was expanded to Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club subsidiary. Now Dell has firmly attached itself (pun intended) to Staples as well. […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:39 am
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August 8th, 2008 at 1:02 am