Dell Builds Market Share In Europe
(08/20/98; 7:30 p.m. ET)
By Andrew Craig, TechWeb
Dell has strengthened its position in the
European PC market, even though
consumers in Europe -- in contrast to the
United States -- have yet to embrace the
Internet as a sales channel, according to
analysts.
Dell is now the No. 2 PC vendor in Europe
in terms of the number of units shipped,
according to analysts. The company is also
ranked second in terms of sales, according
to its financial results published Wednesday.
Compaq, which now incorporates recently
acquired Digital, is the largest PC vendor
in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
with 17.1 percent of the market, according
to Framingham, Mass.-based research
company International Data Corp.
In the past 12 months, Dell has overtaken
IBM and Hewlett-Packard to capture a 7.8
percent share of the European, Middle
Eastern, and African market. Dell, which
sells its computers directly to customers
rather than through resellers, increased
its share in the region by more than 81
percent in the past year -- shipping almost
half a million PCs.
Selling directly has enabled Dell to
achieve its strong position in Europe, said
Jan Gesmar-Larsen, president of Dell in
Europe, Middle East, and Africa. "Our
excellent performance across Europe
highlights the [direct sales] model's
growing popularity in the marketplace," he
said in a statement.
Although Dell sells an estimated $4 million
worth of PCs per day via the Internet in
the United States, European consumers
still don't have enough confidence in the
security of the Internet to purchase
computers, said Ian Darbyshire, manager
of IDC's Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Quarterly PC Tracking Program.
"Although people are configuring and
knowing what to order using the Internet,
they are still phoning in their credit card
details because they think the Internet is
unsafe," he said.
The situation will change, however, as
customers increase their confidence in the
Internet, said Darbyshire. "From the
vendor point of view, the Internet is a
godsend because it provides such a
cheap route to market," he said.
Dell holds the second-place position in
the United Kingdom with 15.8 percent of
the PC market. In Germany, Dell is sixth,
and holds the fifth spot in France.
In the Nordic countries, including Sweden,
Dell is ranked third with a unit market
share of 12.6 percent, an increase of 231
percent year-on-year. Dell is second in
the Benelux countries -- Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg -- and ninth
in Italy.
Dell now plans to open its third European
call center in Copenhagen on Sept. 3 to
support the company's growth in northern
Europe. The call center will be
concentrated on the home- and
small-business market. Dell's other
European call centers are in Ireland and
France. |
