Can Dell Help Staples Overcome Flat Sales by Working Against the Channel?
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We all know how Dell has been trying to court the channel. Dell sees the channel as a way to move the company's products out to more and more businesses, especially the SMB (small and midsize business) market. And some VARs have been drinking the Dell Kool-Aid and are moving Dell's PCs and accessories at a decent clip, oblivious to the fact that Dell plots against them. Dell has made it clear that while it is supporting the channel, it will still look to sell services and products via other means. What's more, Dell has partnered with Staples to sell products and supplies, and guess what their primary target is? The SMB market! With Staples reporting flat profits and cutting its sales forecasts, it only makes sense that the retailer is going to rely on its key vendors to help boost traffic, and here comes Dell to just do that. So for the SMB VAR, selling Dell products may very well be an exercise in futility -- after all, you'll be competing against some 1,400 Staples stores and their red-shirted in-house sales folks.
Above: The sign of things to come for Dell partners Frank J. Ohlhorst |
Comments (3)
If the "channel" cannot add value beyond that which Staples aisle walkers can provide, then they don't deserve to make the sale. I am surprised to see this type of knee-jerk op-ed on a channel savvy website.
Posted by David Goldstein | March 6, 2008 11:20 AM
and this is different than hp's printers/ink/pc's sitting in staples stores how? you guys can rail against dell all you want, but it's no different than what hp's been doing for years. you can complain about dell selling services to smb's, but it's the sign of the times. if a company isn't selling services, it's behind the times. eventually everyone will be selling services, dell is no different, and can't be faulted for doing so.
Posted by 2smart4u | March 6, 2008 12:30 PM
that is what you get for dealing with Dell!
Posted by ROGER | March 6, 2008 5:24 PM