Dell is a company located in Round Rock, Texas. This company is a major manufacturing company for personal computers, computer peripherals as well as computer software (Scheck 10) . The company has adopted a business strategy of selling its products directly to customers by use of the internet as well as mail order catalogues as opposed to the use of retail outlets. Dell is actually one of the biggest producers of computers as well as computer related accessories in the world (Scheck 10). This company appreciates the need of incorporating customers into product planning as well as manufacturing processes through motivating all its employees to keep in touch with the customers. Through this, the company is able to have ideas shared about product designs and product promotions between the two parties. The company was established in 1984 by Dell (Scheck 12). This gentleman bought excess inventory of RAM chips and disk drives for IBM personal computers in 1983 when he was a freshman at the university. This purchase was done from local dealers in Texas. He then decided to resell these chips by placing advertisements in newspapers. He decided to place the resell price below the retail price (Scheck 23) . He made about $80 000 a month, a success that made him come up with the decision to drop out of school in order to launch his company . (Scheck 30)
At its initial stages, the company manufactured its own IBM compatible computers. Dell did not initially use the current name. He instead decided to name the company PCs limited. These IBM compatible computers were sold directly to customers through placing ads in magazines, catalogs and newspapers to market them (Scheck 45). As a result of this mode of selling, the company decided to price the computers below their counterparts who would sell their products via retail stores. This attracted a huge number of buyers such that the company managed to generate $6million in its first year of operation and $34 million in the second operation year (Scheck 60). These huge sales made it the top mail- order computer company in America by 1987. The company decided to change tact in order to capture large corporations. This would be achieved through opening offices throughout the world in order to capture the direct mail market in other countries. The company however decided to start selling computers through direct retail store after experiencing several problems which saw profits dive in 1990 (Scheck 70).
In the year 1994, the company started a new line of notebook computers and started focusing more on oversees sales. The company was announced the word’s leading direct seller of computers owing to its smart marketing strategies which saw it capture almost the entire world (Lawton 33). Following the loss made when retail outlets were used, The company concentrated more on online sales as opposed to retail outlets, a move that saw it generate world wide sales of above $40 million per day (Lawton 35). For the company to succeed in the use of the internet to capture market throughout the world, it offers its employees information technology knowledge since majority are not IT savvy. The training is web based. This training enables Dell to have very competitive employees as compared to others in the same line of production (Lawton 53). The employees are therefore able to come up with IT strategies which are better than those of competitors. To succeed in web based marketing, Dell has also ensured that its website is always up to date as well as attractive and visually informative (Lawton 60).
Having a constantly upgraded website enables the company’s clients stay up to date with news, products as well as other information which can improve the relationship between them and the company (Lee 32). Having an attractive website enables the company make an impressive first time encounter with clients. This is because, clients are likely to associate an Impressive website with high quality products. Having a visually impressive website enables the company to pass information smartly about their products and the functions of each (Lee 33). Having a visually impressive website simply means having a website where the products being advertised are added impressive as well as visually appealing pictures which can help the company entice the prospective buyers (Lee 35). This therefore helps the company achieve its goals of making huge sells. The company is therefore able to stay ahead of others in its line of production since their websites lack these features (Lee 38). Their competitors actually have websites which cannot appeal to a prospective buyer owing to the fact that they are complicated and are not visually impressive and informative.
This IT strategy does not only benefit Dell but other countries especially those affected by terrorism (Lee 60). Their choice therefore to use web based marketing as opposed to retail outlets comes with a huge number of advantages. Dell is therefore able to contribute to the fight against terrorism through its online order form. This is because the form includes questions like what the client will do with the product. If the company realizes that the client is likely to use the product to cause harm to others, then the transaction is not completed (Lee 62). Other questions in the online order form are: what the client will do to the product, who the beneficiary of the product is and background information of the beneficiary. The company would therefore not sell the product to a client whose background has been linked with terrorism (Lee 85). Through this therefore, the company contributes to the fight against the menace. This strategy therefore benefits both the company in the sense that its able to make huge sells as well as the government and the international community at large as terrorism is a threat to everybody. The strategy thus minimizes chances of having the computer being used to make weapons of mass destruction (Lee 102).
Selling the company’s product online clearly ensures low cost of advertisement since the webpage is used at the same time for many other needs. These needs include advertising vacancies and other things. This therefore enables the company to sell its products at a lower price as compared to others who use retail outlets (Lee 112). The lower prices in turn entice clients to buy from the company thereby ensuring the company’s sales skyrocket. The company is therefore able to sustain price wars against its competitors. The overall effect of using IT based strategy as opposed to retail outlets therefore is an assistance to the company to achieve its goals and objectives and acquire added profits (Lee 132).
Lastly, an IT based strategy helps the company advertise its website through the use of other internet sites. This helps the company solve the problem of being less popular to some people and having a less known website (O’Dowd 100). The company can strive to ensure that it markets its website through others which are already very popular so as to capture the attention of very many people. Ideal companies which the company can use include: Yahoo, Gmail, face book, face party, twitter and others which are highly visited on daily bases by a huge number of people(O’Dowd 101) . People who log into these sites for social reasons would get the ad and prescribe it to others. The overall effect is having the company make very high sales hence profit boom.
An IT based strategy enables Dell to improve its efficiency as they use computers which are more accurate than human beings to carry out processes such as preparation of invoices, issuing of checks, keeping track of stock movement, storage of records for store personnel and payroll records (O’Dowd 110).
In conclusion, Dell is a company based in Round Rock in Texas. This company has embraced the use of an IT based strategy as opposed to a retail outlet one. This strategy has enabled the company change its nature through changing the ways it does business . The benefits of this approach as discussed are quite tremendous yet the risks involved are only vaguely understood and therefore not holding water. In an IT based approach, computers are used to prepare invoices, issue checks, keep track of stock movement, store personnel and payroll records, therefore increasing business efficiency and competitiveness. Dell as a company is involved in the manufacture of personal computers, computer accessories, as well as computer software. The company sells these products directly to clients through the use of mail – order catalogues as well as through the internet as opposed to the use of retail outlets. This strategy makes the company very competitive both internally and overseas. The company is therefore assured of an huge number of clients, high profits, high competitiveness as well as ease in achieving its laid down goals and objectives. The benefits assured by this strategy do not only go to the company but also to the government and the international community at large. Benefit to the society is an assurance of better security by helping fight terrorism. The strategy also assures clients a better service hence satisfying their needs. The assurance of high profits and high sales in turn ensures the company can recruit more workers. This in turn ensures the problem of unemployment is solved. The strategy also provides efficiency in doing work and therefore ensuring that available time can be allocated to other businesses.
