14 DAY TRIAL // Dell has announced that it plans to increase its presence on the Chinese retail market via its Suning electronics chain. The company also plans to double the number of Gome stores that sell the company's desktop and notebook computers.
Moreover, the system manufacturer today announced that it will also tighten the relations with the Hontu chain of retail stores, as well as with several other retail channels, such as Wuxing, Meicheng, Heng Chang and Heyong, in order to increase the availability of its products in the urban areas.
"The China consumer electronics market continues to see exciting growth," said Michael Tatelman, Vice President and GM Sales and Marketing for Dell's consumer business. "It is great to see the Dell brand associated with the top retail brands in China giving access to our products to a wider audience of Chinese consumers," he continued.
The strategic partnerships will allow Dell to sell its own-branded products on more than 12,000 stores around the world. The system manufacturer is pitching again at a lead position in worldwide PC shipments after a prolonged period of trailing its Arch-rival Hewlett-Packard.
According to the latest reports from market analysis companies IDC and Gartner, Dell is still below HP on the market, yet its worldwide shipments dramatically increased during the first quarter. At the moment, Hewlett-Packard is present in more than 81,000 retail stores worldwide. Unlike Dell, one of the pioneers of direct selling HP has a long tradition in distributing its products through its retail outlets.
"These guys are the premium two, and they are pretty expansive, not only across the big cities but down into smaller cities as well," Tatelman said in reference to the Gome and Suning retail chains.
The Chinese market plays a key role in Dell's evolution as a company, and the system vendor claimed that the Asia-Pacific and Japan regions rose 28 percent and had an important contribution to the company's revenue.