Dell to tap emerging markets via retail stores

Emerging markets will see the powerful online marketplace give way to their supremacy as Dell plans a new retail drive to sell in stores rather than just online. The Dell move is aimed at helping consumers in emerging markets buy  their first computer.

The strategy is part of the world’s largest computer maker to make a shift from online and phone sales and move towards the consumer who wants a computer but doesn’t have internet access.  The company is planning to have as many as 15,000 stores which would sell PCs. Dell has also drawn up a plan in which store staff would take customers through an assisted sale on dell.com, combining a personal shopping experience with the advantages of having no store inventory. The company has found that demand in Russia was huge. Dell in fact plans to more than double its staff in Russia to 100 by Christmas as it expands its data center and consultancy businesses. Dell’s customers in Russia include the country’s biggest Internet firm, Yandex, for whom it runs data centers, said an online report.

Apart from Russia, other BRIC countries such as Brazil, India and China have also shown signs of being a great market for Dell. Statistics say that BRIC countries overall had given Dell a revenue growth of 41 per cent on a 46 per cent increase in units last quarter. This in reality is more than three times the industry growth rate.

The emerging markets strategy comes about following the realization that it would have the potential to fuel Dell’s growth . As many as 500, 000 new users come on line every day, and a large proportion of these are in emerging economies, Dell has found out.