Dell.com – 19 Years Strong and Committed to Serving You

Early 1990s era Dell computer with Dell.com image on screen

On the eve of Dell.com’s 20th anniversary, I can’t help but get nostalgic. Two decades ago Michael Dell decided to take our business online to give you, our customers and partners, an easier way to discover, learn buy and get support for our products. For those who jumped on the “information superhighway” with us back then, you might remember a page that looked something like this:

It was clear we made the right choice as just six months later, Dell.com reached $1 Million in sales a day and nearly 20 years later, revenue of Dell.com has reached approximately $15 Billion per year, making us one of the largest online retailers by Web sales on the planet. Though times may have changed, our mission and commitment to you remains the same – to make Dell the easiest technology company on the planet to do business with.

One of my favorite parts about being a private company is how transparent we can be with our customers. We’re not only listening but we’re actively and quickly taking steps to ensure your interaction with us on Dell.com is easy and intuitive. Over the years, you’ve voiced the need to simplify Dell.com and we’ve listened:

  • We organized the website around the way you shop ('For Home' and 'For Work') instead of how we organize our business, making the website easier to navigate and the content that is important to you easier to find.
  • You’ve asked for a simple and easy support experience regardless of where you are or what device you are on, so we launched a streamlined support experience that is mobile friendly.
  • We redesigned the “For Home” experience, improving your ability to find the products and services you are looking for through improved search, product compare and by reducing the number of steps to complete a purchase. This improved experience is also available on mobile devices and tablets in the US today and will be available globally by the end of the year.
  • We also accept new forms of payment online. Earlier this year we announced we started accepting Bitcoin in Canada and the UK, in addition to the US – making Dell the largest merchant to accept bitcoin internationally.
  • Our Social Media Command Center has enabled us to respond to you more quickly. In fact we have a 99 percent Customer Satisfaction Resolution Rate – so we’re not only responding to you quickly, we’re getting you the answers you need. With smarter tools, we’ve been able to nearly double our reach.

A view of Dell.com today…


A concerted investment and dedication to a more agile innovation cycle allows us to bring these improvements to you more quickly. And, you’re taking notice! We’ve seen a 26 percent increase in Customer Satisfaction year-over-year. During arguably one of our busiest buying periods of the year, Black Friday/Cyber Monday Dell.com had one of the top 10 mobile response times. This kind of success translated whether you were reaching us through your desktop or mobile. We continue to find ways to make Dell.com faster, easier and responsive to you and your needs. I promise we will continue to keep this same focus on serving you over the next twenty years.

Dell.com will continue to put you, our customers first, evolving based on your feedback. What additional improvements would you like to see to Dell.com?

I look forward to working for you as we deliver new levels of convenience… 

About the Author: Paul Walsh