Dell Moves Into Walmart

So the so called Dell who lost numerous sales to HP has now decided to start selling Dell Computers in Walmart and Best buy......so they can try and recover their lost market share. For the first time it will be " Dude you're getting a DELL REALLY CHEAP" Because Best Buy and Walmart purchase in Bulk on EVERYTHING so Dell is going to have to almost give away their computers for Best Buy and Walmart to make any profit.......serves them right since Dell advertises as an American item but has only 3 companies in the US and 11 outside the US and is opening another 3 more in ...................................IRAQ...............is that a bunch of Crap or what??????????

 

Why is that a bunch of crap? Lots of people like Dell machines, and Dell likes lots of money. Dell's an American-owned company so far as I know, in which case the advertising isn't dishonest though perhaps a bit misleading to some, apparently.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if those 3 US locations supply the staff and the PCs for the US market. Those other 11 support the remaining markets worldwide, so don't complain.

 

Don't get me wrong I'm not complaing but when You think of how many Dells are sold and how the economy is......why open up 3 more to make a total of 14 opened overseas instead of opening in the US? and helping the economy here? I'm a Director of Marketing and all I do all day is monitor market area. We open companies elsewhere in the world to Sell to the US and other companies from over seas come here to sell to the US so since we are the Biggest Consumer why not open here and Boost the economy? You sure don't have a problem with making a buck from the economy in the US. This is what I am stating. I like Dell also but let's be realistic here. If the new 3 that they are opening supply the US as well why not open them here and add 6 firms to the US

 

You should know better than most of us why they do it. Cheap labor, cheap production costs, cheap storage /transportation….you name it. And DELL as any other business, is only concerned about the bottom-line. How many Americans do you think would pay extra $200 to buy a DELL made in U.S over a DELL made elsewhere (provided they are of same quality). And do you really think that would boost their business?

 

Dell is a company, and they do what's best for them to make a profit. I am sure every other company thinks alike, or why are you in the business world for? Keep the cost down, and profit up. isn't that the fundamental principal of any company?

 

Seems that mvaughn12 is a member from the HP forum. Wonder why he's so concerned about Dell starting to sell computers in WalMart? I wonder if he feels the same way when HP entered the Iraq market in 2004?

 

For consumers it would be best for Dell to open up a company (branch or whatever) in as many countries as possible. That way they can provide relatively cheap Dell PCs to the market in question.

In Europe, for instance, Dell Laptops are all shipped from Ireland (dunno if they're built there, but probably since that way they avoid customs duties within the EU), and whereas the base price (before tax) is pretty much the same in all EU countries where Dell sells directly, in other countries (like my own for example), a Dell PC costs almost double since it goes through distributors who seem to charge 50% just to deliver the computer to the consumer.

So, I'm all for Dell opening up as many branches as possible. The profits go to company HQ anyway and I'm pretty sure that the US government gets a share of those profits in taxes anyway

 

only sub $700 desktops are to be sold at WalMart
http://www.dailytech.com/WalMart+to+Sell+Sub700+Dell+Desktops/article7433.htm

 

You complain, yet you wear shoes and drive a car, made in a third world country? Wal-Mart uses a solid business plan, buy in bulk, buy cheap, and YES, they DO pass the savings onto the consumer. Explains why they are the largest retailer in the WORLD.
I think your mad cause what you thought you were buying was a "brand" item now is being sold next to generic items that anyone can afford.
The only difference between the Dell and the cheap Avertec is that one was made by a 12 year old (Dell) and the other by an 8 year old (Avertec).

 

If Dell continues to lose market share and eventually loses money, the first layoffs are going to be in the U.S. There is no reason to let go of someone making $100 a month. Also, about 60% of products in Walmart stores are made in China.

 

Stupid does as stupid is.

If they want to go retail, they ought to learn a lesson from Apple. Their retail stores do tremendous business. Wouldn't you buy from a local store where you can get hands-on support and touch and feel the products you're going to buy.

I think it only proves that you don't need to provide that much customization in order to sell lots of product. Offer a few basic models in the stores and if they want to custom order, let them do that online. Their mall kiosks allow you to touch and feel, but doesn't take advantage of the letting the impulse buyers walk out the door with one.

Come on Dell... wake up.

 

But Apples largest sales items are portable audio players, not computers.

 

Most of the Dell's business comes from small or larges business, because they order PCs by bulk. of course, it will be great if we can play around with the notebooks before buying it.

 

Dells operating business philosophy is and has always been JIT production. They adopted this process because Dell doesnt make anything and they have no need for a R&D department.
Dell is pretty well just a media marketing giant and the Dell computer is just a by-product of it.

Entering into the retail market with WalMart will mean Dell now needs to prebuild lots of inventory. This will be new ground for Dell and theyve jumped in bigtime signing on with WalMart.

 

Mikey, which Dell are you talking about? Because Dell Computer makes all their own computers, unlike Apple who contracts out the manufacturing.

 

Signing with Wal-Mart will help insure Dell's survival.
The 2nd worst thing you can do is sign a contract with Wal-mart, The 1st worst thing is, NOT signing a contract with Wal-Mart.
I worked for Wal-Mart for several years. I can assure you that thier business model is sound and dominating in nature. They arent going to lose anytime soon. Yes they buy in bulk, yes they "help" manufactors lower thier production costs so they can pass the savings onto the consumer. They are giants. Both companies. Who are you going to invest your retirement with, the strongest retail company in the world of course.

 

This is how I got hooked on Dell. I can tell you that the company I am at now exclusively uses Dell, from rack-mount servers at the data center to notebooks for the employees. And we're talking about a $2.2 billion/year, privately-held company. Hell, my g/f's company exclusively uses Dell as well and they're in the jewelry business.

While a good portion of your Dell product may come from outsourced part manufacturers (such as the LCD, power supply, CPU), Dell does R&D some pieces (such as the case, motherboard, bios). I'm betting that other manufacturers do the same.

Beyond that, what does JIT inventory/production have to do w/ R&D? HP/Compaq could use the same basic components as Dell, but the difference is that HP/Compaq may have ordered those components from the manufacturer at bulk rate while Dell may have ordered those components in smaller quantities. What this means is that HP/Compaq may have lower costs to produce a computer, but they may to sit on a warehouse full of parts. Since technology evolves very rapidly, it's a race for Compaq/HP to use up all of those parts before they become deprecated. What bean counter wants to take that risk?

BTW, guess where your stock turbos, power transistor unit, ecu in your Z come from...

///Michael

 

all of them
first of all lets define a few words. My definition of 'make' means manufacturing. Manufacturing is tool and die, metal presses, CAD design dept. etc. Dell has none of that.
You and i all know Dell is just an assembler. Apple may contract their manufacturing as does Dell but at least Apple has actually manufactured their own OS and related softwear.

Nope. Polanis International, Inc (and USPS Exchange) makes all of Dells casings and Dell relies on all their business and supply partners to do the r&d.
My info is reliable as i have a friend who works at Dell at gordon baker rd. north york

I was just referring to the fact that Dell is more preoccupied with assembling rather than designing and manufacturing.

I already know what JIT is all about.
In fact, JIT is not much of a cost savings as Dell spends 3 times as much on transportation and logistic costs. A few yrs ago there was a dock strike all up and down the west coast. It lasted about 2weeks. Dell knew they were in trouble because they stock no parts. They had to charter about a dozen Boeing 747's to personally ship parts they couldnt get from Taiwan/indonesia back to USA. It cost Dell over 1 million per plane and they lost money for those weeks.

This discussion isnt about who makes which and what part but rather the fact that Dell doesnt manufacture anything and they are now diverting from their business model of JIT assembly and now have to be a bulk assembler with inventory stock due to retailing with WalMart.

And if youre suggesting the PTU is manufactured by Bavarian Motor Werks then great!... i can blame them for me having to replace 2 of them prior to a massive worldwide recall on the it

 

Ok so Polanis manufactured the casings. Who designed them? Who did the research regarding where to put vents or place certain items inside the case?

And how is this different from Compaq/HP? Does Compaq/HP really have a case manufacturing plant?

So what does JIT have to do w/ R&D? JIT works regardless if Dell does R&D or not.

That is an exception, not the norm. If it was the norm, then Dell would not have been successful (sans recent years).

Wal-Mart orders xxx Dimensions configured yyy way from Dell. Dell builds them, Wal-Mart pays for them, Dell ships them to where ever Wal-Mart desires. Why would Dell have inventory stock? It would be stupid for Dell to pre-build zzz numbers of computers hoping that Wal-Mart is going to buy them.

You couldn't be so lucky. Think Mitsubishi.

///Michael

 

Hmmm... I can only find very limited info on Polanis International and USPC Exchange. In fact, the only thing I can find is on Alibaba:

Looks like they deal in reselling used computer parts in bulk and USPC only has 5-10 employees. I don't think that's enough to do case r&d and manufacturing. How reliable is your source, again?

///Michael

 

Ok i gave my bud a call after the hockey game ended and he tells me the company that makes casings for Dell is called Nypro.
He says they have hundreds of middle men wholesalers and distributers and redistributers and even more in diff markets predicated on location and which country their offices are set up in.

This has nothing to do with HP/Compaq. But i would bet HP has more physical hands-on manufacturing of their own products than what Dells does

Im not debating whether JIT works or not. Because obviously it does for Dell.
My noting of R&D is referring to R&D manufacturing which Dell is not.
As my pal says, Dell doesnt manufacture anything. Sure they may have a design dept in Texas for cosmetic looks and proposed concepts and such but its their partners who do it all
If Dell changes mobos that have a diff seating structure who do you think retools the casings?
Dont get me wrong, i dont think theres anything wrong with Dells JIT production. I was just originally referring to the WalMart contract as now altering Dells philosophy. This step is probably due to their marketshare loss to HP

I think you underestimate the buying power and product needs of WalMart. Anyone who is in management for WalMart will tell you their suppliers better have lots and lots of product.
Heres some data for you. WalMart employs 1.7mill people. Walmart has 6,700 stand alone stores, 3,200 discount and grocery stores plus about 500 or so Sams Clubs. Thats 10,000+ WalMart retail outlets!!
Now, lets stock just 1 Dell desktop computer in each store. Thats 10,000 units give or take a few. You do the math and figure out what would be required of Dell to keep up.
As i was saying, this will be new territory for Dell based on their current business plan of Just In Time Built To Order process

 

Dell always has tons of stock/ returned units/canceled orders, going through a huge chain like wal-mart would be an ideal way to move that inventory, it moves anyway through Dell outlet and several resellers, but you would be amazed at how many people buy computers from wal-mart, esecially if the tag is sub $500, for the majority of shoppers, they dont care what the hardware is, they usally have no clue anyway, as long as its cheap,has the proper buzz words, gets them on the net, and looks pretty its perfect.

 

Nope. Doesn't look like it.

http://news.com.com/Dell+bucks+the+notebook-outsourcing+trend/2100-1005_3-6134256.html