Retail stores in China to begin selling Dell PCs

Dell Inc. said on Monday, it is to start selling computers in China through the country's largest electronics retailer, GOME Group. The move represents the PC maker’s endeavor to expand its market share and compete with bigger rival, Hewlett-Packard Co. and others.

"Our market share in China is obviously well below our global average. So we hope to be successful here and get our rightful share of the business," said Michael Tatelman, vice president of marketing and sales for Dell's global consumer business. "We think this partnership gives us a platform to certainly expand our business here."

China forms the world’s second largest PC market, 35 per cent of which is captured by the local Lenovo, distantly trailed by Hewlett-Packard Co.

Dell computers will retail through 50 GOME stores first and then expand to more stores in the first half of next year. Analysts called it a positive move for Dell, but noted that computer sales in China were being driven by fifth- and sixth-tier cities, a market where GOME is yet to make a strong presence.
"We will grow with GOME," said Tatelman. The chain already has about 700 outlets in 210 cities in China. Also, Dell intends to carry on with Internet and phone-based sales in the country.

The Texas-based computer giant claims to hold about 18 percent of China's PC market by revenue and 10 percent by number of units sold.

According to the company, Dell models to be sold at GOME stores include the XPS M1330 and Inspiron 1420 notebooks and XPS 720, Dimension 9200 and Inspiron 530 desktop.

Dell, the world's second-largest PC vendor has conventionally sold computers over the Internet or by telephone, but the company declared in May that its computers will also begin to retail through Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the U.S.

Also, to keep up with the competition Dell has signed several deals with retailers in other countries including the Bic Camera Inc. in Japan and Carphone Warehouse PLC in Britain.