Recently, several Dell folks traveled to Versailles France to discuss Dell’s retail evolution, share details on some the latest products and offerings like the Alienware M17x as well as some of Dell’s other award-winning machines and Design Studio artists.
For a while, I had been providing updates on how Dell has progressed in the retail space on Direct2Dell. This event in France reminded me that we need to do more of that. Our presence in retail outlets worldwide is a key part of our multi-channel sales strategy as part of our global consumer business. One bit of news is that Dell’s consumer products are now available in more than 30,000 stores worldwide. Beyond that, we also unveiled a partnership with Italy’s Media World. We plan to sell our laptops and desktops in 83 of Media World stores throughout the country.
As part of the Metro Group, which also owns electronics giant Media Markt, Media World claims almost 13 percent of the consumer electronics retail market in Italy. The partnership with Media World adds another to the list of formidable retail partner in Europe, which include DSGi (the holding company of consumer electronics retailers across Europe including Dixons, Currys and PC World in the UK), Carrefour (more than 400 stores in France, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Romania, Brazil and Italy), Cosmos (Austria’s second-largest consumer electronics retailer) and Rue du Commerce (France’s leading online retailer of consumer electronics).
More and more of Dell’s consumer products are making their way to retail store shelves all over the world. Just this week, Dell’s all-in-one desktop the Studio One 19 is now available to Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. Speaking of Wal-Mart, Dell was named their "Electronics Supplier of the Year" for 2008. Best Buy also recently awarded us the Bravo Award of Excellence. Among the categories in which Dell was judged were technology leadership, integrity, partnering acumen and speed to market. We’ll keep pushing on that front.
The Dell event that I mentioned at the beginning of this post featured a keynote address from Michael Tatelman and Phil Bryant from our Global Consumer team. Beyond the keynote, Dell also hosted several breakout sessions and a roundtable discussion with bloggers and reporters that continue through tomorrow. Besides retail growth, other session topics include mobility, gaming, and design.
Soon I’ll publish some video footage from the event , and you can see images from the event at Dell’s Flickr page, including sets from the event’s keynote, the Dell Suites Blogger Roundtable, the mobility and gaming sessions.
Update: Below is the highlight video from the Dell Suites event. If you want to view the full keynote, take a look at this YouTube video.