Dell was the only international tier 1 vendor in Australia to increase its market share over the preceding quarter, according to the analyst group.
The direct sales model used by Dell is based on a just-in-time manufacturing process that requires the company to hold four days of component inventory. Personal computers and notebooks are manufactured in less than a day while servers, storage and workstation products are built in less than two days. Customers can have their standard operating environment imaged onto all client and server products through Dell's custom factory install (CFI) process, and have the finished products shipped to Australia or New Zealand in seven to ten working days.
According to Dell, it is this efficient model which allows it to pass on cost reductions to the marketplace. With component prices dropping by approximately one percent per week, Dell says it has been able to continually drop system prices.
The move online has further streamlined customer procurement processes, and now Dell's online commerce accounts for approximately $US16 billion in revenue, half the company's total sales.
Dell's early successes were in the large business and government sectors where the commercial benefits of Dell's direct model were readily understood.
would be good to see the survey results and the placings of other vendors.