Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) will be closing all 140 "Dell Direct" retail kiosks in malls and shipping centers across the U.S. within a matter of days to more acutely focus sales in high-volume retailers like Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT). This is a good move, as I've always wondered if the point of Dell's mall kiosks was just a branding and mind share technique more than a sales channel.Dell's kiosks employees will be given a severance package and outplacement assistance as the world's second-largest PC maker closes down these shops by perhaps this weekend. The kiosks have been around since 2002 as a way for Dell customers to get a feel for its products before calling or ordering on the Dell website.
In a sense, these Dell Direct kiosks were what the computer maker needed in a larger ways years ago -- the ability for retail consumers to "look and feel" its products before buying sight unseen from a website. Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) leapfrogged past Dell in 2007 as the world's largest computer maker squarely on the back of strong consumer retail sales, and especially in the laptop PC segment where consumers prefer to see the product in person before buying. Good move, Dell -- but this retail shift should have come at the end of 2006 instead. Better late than never, eh?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-31-2008 @ 12:29PM
LEWIS E CURLEE said...
Dell has been too slow to adopt changes, such as reluctance to use AMD processors, and go into retail outlets. I recently purchased a HP with AMD. It appeared that I got if for $400 less than a comparable Dell . However it was absent many of the normally included features, such as a word processor, and had very irritating squeaky little speakers. I probably saved only about $75 after all. I had very poor service from HP on a previous purchase. Dell's was from India but those guys are smart, unless you have one with a heavy accent.