Dell’s Not-So-Secret Retail Partnerships

China Tech News reports:

Dell China has secretly launched a new program called “Online Sale Promotion Service Provider”, authorizing regional dealers to display Dell’s products at their sales site to provide offline order placements for customers.

…Zhang Saying, a spokesperson from Dell Greater China, said that this is a new pattern to enhance consumers’ experience of Dell’s consumer electronics and to enable them to enjoy Dell’s customized services via Dell’s business partners. Zhang said that the new business pattern is mainly for Dell’s consumer products and said that about 50 partners, which are mainly in the fourth to sixth tier cities, have joined the program.

Different from the Client Experience Center that is operated by Dell, the Promotion Service Supplier needs to go to the computer market by itself to rent or purchase a store space to exhibit Dell’s products and place an order for customers before Dell provides the related after-sales service.

The article clears up the relationship between Dell and its partner retailers. They’re not franchisees, just retailers who will get some form of kickback from Dell for sales. The important question is how Dell has structured the incentive program.

It makes a lot of sense to partner with another company, no matter what the size, to reach some of the more remote reaches of China’s markets. However, this small program won’t make much of a difference to Dell’s sales in China in the short term.

Dell is stuck somewhere around #3 or #4 in China PC sales and has been for a few years. As they have done internationally, Dell is now experimenting with retail partnerships as another channel to the consumer market.

The irony is that China’s consumers finally look ready for online shopping.

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