Dell says Internet sales still rising
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dell Computer Corp. (DELL - news) chairman Michael Dell Friday said that the company's sales on the Internet continue to rise from the average $6 million a day posted in the company's fiscal second quarter.
Dell, speaking to executives here, said the company's Internet sales grew from about $1 million a day in March 1997 to $4 million a day in March 1998. Just months later, Internet sales had grown to $6 million a day.
''And that number still keeps rising,'' Dell said, adding that Internet sales are also increasing as a percentage of revenues.
While electronic commerce is important, Dell said the Internet has fundamentally changed the way the direct marketer of computers does business. For example, he said 20 percent of all visits to the company's Web site were for service and support.
In a media briefing following his speech, Dell declined to comment on analysts' earnings estimates but said business at the company he founded ''continues to be very good.''
He said the Asian economic turmoil has worked in Dell Computer's favor in some aspects. The economic crisis has caused prices of computer components produced there to tumble, for example, and Dell said those prices continue to fall at a fast rate.
''Because Dell has only eight days' inventory, we're able to capture that savings and pass it on to our customers faster than any other company,'' Dell said.
For Dell's fisal 1998 ended Feb. 1, just 7 percent of revenues were from the Asia-Pacific region and Japan. But Dell said the company's growth there has been well ahead of the computer industry.
Talk of gloom and a possible U.S. recession also did not shake Dell, who serves as chief executive of the company as well.
''Certainly we look at what's going on in the financial markets and you have to undertake some caution and think about how this is going to impact buying patterns,'' Dell said.
''One of the things that we observed is that when companies go into a mode of looking to reduce costs, we actually get invited to bid more often,'' he said. ''I'm not convinced that just because the economy slows down we won't have more opportunities to grow and expand, if we're able to execute.''
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