Dells Successful Use of the Internet as a Selling Channel Essay

dingles Successful Use of the Internet as a Selling Channeldell are currently the worlds number one PC supplier, a position inthe market they took from Compaq in April 2001. In short, thecomp any(prenominal)s success story is mainly down to their innovative directbusiness model, which pays occurrence attention to the selling processwhere dell completely bypasses all intermediaries and/or middlemen. This is because Michael Dell believed they add little if no value tothe end product, instead bonnie gaining a considerable mark-up forselling the product. Hence, they became the first PC manufacturer tocompletely cut out retailers and instead sold customised computersdirectly to customers based on their charter specifications. Thisselling process began over the telephone and via catalogues but in1996 Dell embarked on Internet based selling on their officialwebsite, Dell.com, providing customers the opportunity to dealdesktops, notebooks and servers directly from them. In mold to power online commerce successfully for any business, thebasic technology required is the installation of servers anddata-storage systems. The website Dell.com runs on industry standardDell PowerEdge servers. These powerful servers are backed up byDell/EMC Fibre Channel storage. Dell is therefore equipped withbackup strategies in case any problems with the servers or softwareoccur and are experienced. This is crucial, as users may begin to viewthis distribution channel as unreliable if breakdowns are recurrentand could detract them from not only buying from Dell.com but fromanything from the company. According to company internal metrics,Dell.com is one of the most responsive web sites on the Internet, withan average download duration of 1 second for a page. That brieflyexplains the technology used to power the website however customerscan access it simply via an Internet browser, the most popular beingnessMicrosoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Explorer. Dells direct business model ( can be seen on the page three) may besimple in opening however it is very complicated executing it inreality. Building PCs to order means that they must have the partsand components on pile to build a wide range of possiblespecifications over a short period of time (to ensure minimum timebetween order and manufacture). To complete these orders quickly,Dell must have first-rate manufacturing and ... ...ffective they are. Asmentioned, customer service has also improved from an already highstandard even further. Dell has created many services online thatenables the customer to see the whole purchasing process clearly oncethey have made an order. It gives the customer the ability to trackthe fare of their order as it is produced and delivered, providingthem with constant feedback of delivery dates and productinformation. This 24-hour customer service and fast response timehelps Dell build a strong blood with customers. References----------The key references handed in earlier referr ed to the two links below- http//www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/ corp/home?c= uk&l=en&s=corp- http//www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/ en/2003/2003_10_20_rr_002?c=us&l=en&s=corpFurther websites were found with useful detail on Dells directselling model- http//www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=6717- http//www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies/casestudy.asp?CaseStudy ID=14674- http//www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/policy/en/policy? c=us&l=en&s=gen&ck=lf§ion=006