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Dell to Open Two Full-Sized Stores

pcpro.co.uk — Not only is Microsoft playing catch-up to Apple with Vista, but now Dell is playing catchup to Apple with brick and mortar stores.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 23, 2006

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  • biko523, on 10/12/2007, -8/+65something tells me this probably won't be as successful as the Apple stores.
  • Migdilio, on 10/12/2007, -7/+64I wonder if they're going to go the whole nine yards to recreate the classic "Dell experience."

    Ads suddenly appear everywhere you turn.
    Every employee has the flu.
    Strangers take turns looking inside your wallet.
    The building collapses three months after being built.

    But don't worry! It's insured with an all-inclusive 3-year warranty, so it's up and running again in no time.
  • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -5/+32The problem is that Dell and Gateway didn't have machines with any real flare or pop, that combined with the fact they don't really sell anything else that would give you a reason to go to the store (maybe a printer, maybe a digital camera, but there's already stores for that, that are better at that specific purpose; Best Buy (sin), Circuit City, Office Max to some degree), leads you to an unsustainable business model.

    Apple's machines are worthy of their own to have a store, paired with the iPod and over 2000 iPod accessories, and Mac-ready peripherals, and you have a true consumer experience that is unrivaled by any company.

    To sum it up, Apple stores are more like Jewelry stores; sure, they sell watches too, but you're really going to be looking at the jewelry. Dell stores will be like.. well, Office Max.
  • Zminus10, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27Gateway failed with the "build-to-order" retail concept. Eventually, they had to offer in-store computer sales. I can't believe Dell is going down the same flawed path.
  • Ireland, on 10/12/2007, -9/+32I'm sorry if I get burried but the title of this story just made me laugh :P
  • chris9902, on 10/12/2007, -13/+31blah blah blah

    Mircosoft suck, Apple Rulz!!11 we get it already.

    Can we change the record and talk about how this is going to push the IT industry back onto the streets and not online were only people who know how to use computers can buy computers. It's got to be a good thing to be able to talk face to face with someone (even if it is Dell)
  • Zminus10, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Yes, however, retail is all about *instant* gratification. It is a cardinal requirement. Build-to-order retail does not offer that. Therefore, it is a flawed concept.
  • JavaJoe, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20Don't they already kiosk type setups in a good amount of malls? How is this much different than just taking up more space? How is this different than selling through a big-box retailer?

    Part of Apple's success with their stores is that users can get the entire experience of using Apple hardware and software (with knowledgeable staff nearby to answers questions on both). I'm pretty sure Dell reps will know their hardware pretty well (at least I hope they will) but what happens when a user wants to know how to organize their digital photos better? Or how to make the video footage they took over vacation into a DVD to show friends and family? Will Dell reps know the 3rd party software well enough to answer these questions?

    That's the biggest selling point for Apple. They sell you an entire package - hardware and software - and Dell doesn't have anything to match that.
  • DaffyDuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13The other major problem is profit margin. A Dell store is going to need a lot more sales than an Apple store in order to turn a profit and I can't see a Dell store as having the kind of Mecca-like draw that Apple stores have.
  • kevinrosesmom, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14Do you think Prada is playing catch up to JCPenny because the latter sells far more clothes in any given year?

    Not a perfect example but good enough. Apple is not competing on the same level with Microsoft. It's a premium brand, and offers a better end user experience. This is Dell trying to catch up to the level of service Apple is offering. (We all know Microsoft is doing the same with Vista, even if the majority of Windows users don't know/ don't care.) Odds are it won't work with Dell's business model and merchandise.
  • Ireland, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12This is the funnyiest image i've ever seen! LOL
    http://static.flickr.com/54/151853525_30687a580d_o.png
  • macewan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13this will fail
  • craftyguy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Sweet, now I can go scream at physical Dell employees rather than outsourced, over-the-phone Dell employees.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -10/+18This could work. The Dell stores may even have their own Genius Bars, located across the street in the 7/11.
  • jj00, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8From the article: "...Dell won't be changing its tried-and-trusted policy of building every machine to order. Visitors to the new stores will be able to view and tryout products but they will not be able to buy and take away."

    There lies the problem - you can go in there looking for a new pc, but you can't leave with one. It would be so much better if I could order one there and come back in a few hours/days and pick it up.

    Let's not forget that Apple might have good looking machines, but you can take them home. You can also take the same machine back to their store and they will take a look at it for you. It's the total customer experience - like a car dealership.
  • alex007, on 10/12/2007, -10/+17You can tell it was submitted by an Apple fanatic
  • jellomizer, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11To the Bla Bla Bla guy...

    I don't think it is a "Mircosoft suck, Apple Rulz!!11" post.

    The stores has been done before like the Gateway store, which was a large failure. And I think most likely the Dell store will fail as well. The advantage of the apple store is that they setup the store to look more like an art gallery then a computer store. It makes people want to come in even if they are not interested in computers. They will stop in just because the store is so different then all the stores where there is a lot of walking space everything is spotlessly clean and very organized, a spot where kids can play games, a place where you can sit down and watch some apples movies, I doubt that Dell can pull it off, their systems look to common to be art. There prices are still a little to high to compete with the CompUSA stuff. With dell being primary online it allows them to be accecptable to everyone and allows them to read all the specs and stuff before they buy when you are at the store you are distracted by the sales men, chips in the plastic, or the Apple or Linux Zealot who came in a minute before and crashed all the computers.
    The industry is still in the streets they but like before they never had much luck companies own stores, Apple seems to be the first, they had more luck with resellers such as the CompUSAs, Circuit Cities, and Mom and Pop Computers out there.
  • Ireland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I know that's not how you spell funniest, but the edit feature is misbehaving lately.
  • alex007, on 10/12/2007, -10/+16The same can be said about Microsoft.
  • DaffyDuck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Snakedal337,

    I'm not sure how much you know about business but the goal is to make money. That's obvious (I hope).

    Dell has a much lower profit margin than Apple. That means in order to make an equal amount of profit, they have to sell many more computers than Apple.

    I am an Engineer at a company (school and commercial bus manufacturer) that essentially makes a commodity product. We sell for the lowest price possible. In my opinion, we focus too much on market share when profit is really the only important goal. You can increase profit by adding value to your product that the other guys can't easily duplicate. This changes your product from something someone buys because it's cheap and hold up fairly well to something that people want to own and are willing to pay more to get. Unfortunately for my company, it's not easy to make a transition like this. It's a complete change in way of thinking and culture. It would be great for me if it did change because adding value and creating cool options if fun, cost reduction is not so fun. The other benefit is that you can grow revenues a lot by increasing market share a little. I envy those Apple Engineers. What fun it must be to work at a place that allows you to come up with new ideas, and if they are good, implement them.

    Apple HAS added value to their computers. You may disagree but perhaps you just haven't given it a chance. I use a Dell all day at work. My wife has a Dell laptop. I've used Windows for as long as I can remember and have built several of the computers I have owned. Yes, I just bought a MacBook Pro. Yes, I could have paid less and got a Dell. I'll probably never buy a Dell again though.

    Still think I'm retarded? Fine. I don't give a crap.
  • Quozt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5hmm there whole marketing thing in england is "you carnt buy dell in the shops so you have to go online"
  • donte, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7... yet Apple continues to play catch-up to both Microsoft and Dell in terms of total market share in the realm of computing software and hardware. Try to keep your article links informative rather than flamebait for this exhausting debate.
  • buddhistMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Doomed to failure. If Dell actually DID attempt to copy Apple, they might have a shot of success, but instead, they're copying Gateway and their skewed "look but don't buy" mentality. I'm sure there are a few folks out there who get excited about visiting a store where nothing is for sale, but I'm hard-pressed to imagine that there are enough of those folks to sustain this screwy Dell venture. This may well be Dell's "jump the shark" moment.
  • theoallardyce, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Completely irrelivent - Apple is a fashion label, Dell is a computer company, Dell will never have what Apple has.
  • boredzo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5HAHAHAHAHAHA... I love the photo.
  • Ashex, on 10/12/2007, -14/+18You will never know how successful you will be until you try.
  • Orbatos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The other part of what apple did is essentially require stores become certified apple only shops in order to get a business discount, then recently they required that they even buy a franchise license.
  • Chewie67, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"I wonder if they're going to go the whole nine yards to recreate the classic "Dell experience."

    You forgot:

    - You have to wait 20 minutes before you can talk to someone
    - When you do get someone, they don't speak English clearly
    - To answer your question, the sales rep opens the Dell Manual and starts reading it to you
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The whole point of Dell though was a couple basic models, a hint of customization, mail ordered. Gateway did fine when it stuck to that concept but crashed and burned with the brick stores. Maybe these stores will be loss leaders just so Dell can get in the news and try to act relevant.
  • estvir, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6they aren't selling anything instore, it's just a showcase / info centre.
  • ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Just imagine the tards working at a Dell store!! They will make BestBuy employees look like geniuses.
  • DaffyDuck, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6After I finally RTFM I have to look a different way at it. I don't think they are even planning to make money with these stores. That being the case, I suppose it is a brand reinforcing strategy. A way to say, "We're still here!"

    Personally, I think they are better off increasing their TV advertising budget.
  • LordSpam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Want to know why the Apple stores are successful? Simple fact that when all is said and done they really sell 5 computers. iMac, Mac Mini, Macbook, Macbook Pro, and the last PPC Dual G5. Granted there are 2-3 slight variations of each, but it's a simple model. Dell generally has 40 different models to choose from and a plethora of options. To the general consumer that's just overwhelming and something that they can't usually decide on while standing in a store with a salesperson pressuring them. This is why Gateway stores failed. You walked in and (even I as a computer professional) felt lost with options and clutter.

    If I were to buy a PC that I didn't build and spec myself, I'd go for straight out of the box or look online and make sure of what I was buying. This simply isn't a reasonable expectation in a retail store. Unless they go for the car salesman approach of as soon as you walk in a salesperson attaches themselves to your hip. Even this wouldn't work though as at the price that Dell PCs sell for they couldn't keep enough salespeople hired and serving to make the experience anything but agony.

    Looks like Dell had their "Bad Idea Jeans" on at that meeting.
  • CedanticPunt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7What's "a looser"? Last time I checked, "looser" meant the opposite of "tighter".
  • Kazaki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4STOP using CAPITALIZATIONS to MAKE your POINT
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5No, Dell fanboyism is seriously lame. Seriously. Lame.

    Could it be, perhaps, that everybody likes Apple so much because they've tried their products and really, really, really like them? Like them better than Windows, and better than Dell?

    Nah, they're just kool-aid drinking cultists...yeah...that's it.
  • Kelmon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5While it is unknown what sort of experience you'll get in a Dell Store, or whether the Apple Store experience is similar across all their stores, what I do know is that I was massively impressed with the Apple Store that I visited in Sheffield, UK. It's nice to be able to get hands-on with the hardware (I was there to check out the new MacBook Pros), check your email for free and that kinda thing, but I was most impressed with how genuinely interested the staff were in what you did and how they could make things better. I ended up talking to a graphic designer for well over an hour and finally had to be dragged out of the store by my wife. Most impressively, there was never any pressure to sell and one guy on a second visit even talked me out of 2 sales because he noted that the products weren't right for me.

    Overall, as a shopping experience, I was very impressed. If Dell can measure up to that yard stick then, frankly, fair play to them but Apple has set a pretty high standard to achieve.
  • inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Wether the Dell stores have the impact of Apple's remains to be seen."

    Whether or not PC Pro can find a copy editor who can spell remains to be seen.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4If Dell isn't playing "catch up" to Apple in retail, how come all the new Dell stores are going to be in malls that already have an Apple store?

    And what does Dell make that people would want to go play with in person, especially considering they won't be able to buy anything on the spot and drive home with it that same day. A store full of dull black Dell towers running Windows XP (blue Luna theme, yeah!), loaded up with 30 day trials for anti-virus, anti-spyware, and a bunch of other odds and ends you need to keep the PC running, aren't going to get many people interested in visiting the store. It's just the same boring OS we all are forced to use at work. Green hill. Icons strewn across the desktop like garbage. Ooooh, I can't wait to go play with it on my free time.

    Also, Dell may have a much bigger marketshare thanks to large-scale corporate purchases, but Dell's and Apple's market cap is about even. That means according to Wall Street, Apple is just as valuable a company as Dell...for now. But Apple's been trending up over the last few years while Dell is heading south. Apple's got a lot going for it like cool, innovative and unique products, deals with record labels, tv studios, etc., that Dell could never dream of.
  • rubeus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@otherland
    Something racist doesn't have to sound bad for it to still be racist, any belief that all members of a race posess certain characteristics or abilities is racism according to Oxford Dictionary. Such as saying Chinese people are good at math or Indians outsource jobs from america. I think it's a tasteful joke but it still might be racist given all the bad press Indians get in the United States for "taking" jobs.
  • ziggystardust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Dell's going to need more than stores to come back....Gateway tried stores and bombed. Dell needs to do what they used to do...win on customer satisfaction and price. Neither of which they do anymore. Hp now has the higher customer sat rating and offers the best bang for buck combo. Hp doesn't have stores. They have partnerships and affiliations. Dell needs to go back to their roots, not try and copy Apple.
  • cybershoplifter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I know how Dell cann fill the stores with people...let folks bring laptops and pc's for service and general help. Now that would be funny to see.
  • DaffyDuck, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Screw Dell... If they had such a good product they could sell it at more than a .0005% profit margin.
  • pornel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Wether
    Maybe there IS "Wether the Dell" -- a castrated ram named Dell (Dell is in the RAM bussiness, isn't it? ;)
  • fatlip, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7i dont understand why its being compared to apple.. didnt most companies start off with actual stores? okay so its two stores that sell computers..

    i dont really see the big deal in comparing
  • jeffgtr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah I don't get this, they are the best because they have bigger market share logic. Look at McDonalds, in the restaurant biz they have a huge market share, so following the same thought pattern they have the best food. Did you ever see "Super Size Me"? I didn't come up with this, I read it on another forum, but someone there commented they could just hear the Dell salesperson. Excuse me sir, but could I interest you in a dull black box?
  • jbus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Apple Stores are made to emphasize the Mac experience so they are smart, sexy and stylish.

    Will DellMart emphasize the Dell experience? What will that entail? Lots of Ads, unknowledgeable staff, boring architecture, and an attached STD clinic?
  • cybershoplifter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Dell is playing catch up with CE products they so want to sell like tvs, mp3, vid cameras etc. They do have a new competitor and it is Apple, hence the catch up game of the sorta-store. Please give me a break snake.
  • IMesh, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8It's a racist joke. You ever think some people here may be Indian?
  • battybattybatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Now, that depends on what your definition of IS is."

    No, sorry, Dell is NOT in the ram business. Dell recommends Kingston brand ram.

    Are sleep shifting again? (Ya gotta luv that NASA channel!)
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