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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rudedog who wrote (161055)	9/25/2000 12:50:36 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 176387

Web marketplace a big step for Dell By John Pletz American-Statesman Staff Monday, September 25, 2000 Dell Computer Corp. is making its most visible move yet into e-commerce beyond its own $50 million-a-day Web site, stepping out from behind the scenes as a hardware supplier to launch its own business-to-business marketplace. The Round Rock-based PC maker plans to bring its own estimated 2 million business customers together to buy and sell office and general business products online at www.dellmarketplace.com. The site will launch next month. Dell will play gatekeeper, taking a small cut of each transaction, and it will ultimately resolve disputes between buyers and sellers. For now, participation is limited to Dell customers. Three suppliers already have signed on -- Pitney Bowes Inc., 3M and Motorola Inc. The big appeal for sellers is access to Dell's customer base. "It allows them to get to small and medium businesses, which is probably the hardest customer segment to reach because of sheer volume," said David Bailey, an analyst following the PC business for Gerard Klauer & Mattison. "At this point, it's difficult to quantify the financial or strategic impact for Dell." Dell declined to discuss its revenue projections. For buyers, especially those not big enough to have one-on-one relationships with suppliers, the site offers one-stop shopping. "To have all these supplies -- printers or office products -- on one purchase order like they're promising would make life a lot easier," said Bill Moore, a system administrator at vacuum maker Royal Appliance Manufacturing in Cleveland, which has yet to adopt online purchasing. Online marketplaces are relatively untested. They range from individual retail sites to exchanges of supply chains serving entire industries-- such as the one the major automakers are attempting. "It's a little too early to say which B2B marketplace is going to win," Bailey said. "Finished goods seem to be a logical starting point rather than component suppliers." But Dell says it's offering more than just a place to buy and sell in cyberspace. "The typical model is just aggregation of buyers and sellers for a fee," said John Hampton, director of new ventures for Dell. "We'll be helping them sell and get their business online." What the company really is counting on is selling servers and storage products to companies venturing online as buyers and sellers. It also hopes to provide related services, either on its own or through partnerships and outsourcing. "I could see it evolving into a scenario where customers will get all their necessary supply chain onto the marketplace, and Dell will be the key to making that happen," said Brooks Gray, an analyst with Technology Business Research, an industry market-research firm based in Hampton, N.H. Dell is offering a package for about $50,000 that will bring companies online to conduct business, Michael Dell said when he demonstrated the system for customers last week. You may contact John Pletz at jpletz@statesman.com or 445-3601 austin360.com