DELL INC. – A MARKETING ANALYSIS -- REVISION

DELL INC. – A MARKETING ANALYSIS -- REVISION Dell Inc. – General Overview Based in Round Fock, TX, a suburb of Austin, Dell Inc. has carved a niche for itself as direct-to-customer computer manufacturer (Lower, 2008). The company is the world's numberone direct-sales computer vendor that manufactures, customizes and sells various types of personal computers for home and office use (Lower, 2008). In addition to desktop and notebook PCs, the company has peripherals (such as printers and Ethernet switches) and workstations, network servers and projectors (Lower, 2008). The company began selling through retail stores in 2007 (Lower, 2008). Dell's Product The main product, as we indicated above, is computers, and Dell is considered to be in the consumer manufacturing industry. The computer industry is one that is capital-intensive and very much automated (Lower, 2008). Revenue per employee, on average, is around $500,000 (Lower, 2008). Larger computer manufacturers survive from economies of scale when it comes to purchasing and production, while smaller companies do well with specialization or inventing a new technology (Lower, 2008). The main products in this industry include computers, monitors, printers, servers, main frame and disk drives (Lower, 2008). The manufacturing process relies on circuit board integration and applying input-output devices into what will become the final product (Lower, 2008). Most components are bought from other suppliers (Lower, 2008). Dell was one of the first direct-to-consumer companies, making its niche by supplying pre-fab, yet "customized" computers for its customers. Thanks to integrated technolo