The title of the post was, "Is it Possible to be Everything to Everybody?"
She wrote:
How can one single web page be a big project? When it's a page that gets more than 35 million visitors a week. When it is the subject of some of the most popular posts on IdeaStorm. When that one page is the entryway to both a corporate and a commerce site. When it must appeal to everyone from individual consumers to large corporate clients, from institutional investors to mainstream media and citizen journalists. When it has to be a place where a student can research a company for their freshman business class, and purchase a computer upon which to write that same paper.
This is the challenge faced as we roll out a beta test of a new design today in the United States.
On a random basis, customers who click onto Dell.com will see a beta version of the redesigned site. Thomas has posted a screen shot of the site on her blog item. But when I looked at it, there seemed to be something missing. In the comments, I wrote, "Laura, Will the new design include a 'find a reseller' link?"
HP has a link to reseller sites. So does Apple, IBM and Sun. Most vendors who work with channel partners have some variation of a "find a reseller" button on their home page. Dell, which has grown up with a direct-to-end user heritage, never has. But Michael Dell now acknowledges that many customers prefer to buy through a reseller. Dell executives are now scratching out a channel program and formal strategy in both in-house meetings and private meetings with solution providers. They say they want to do business with the channel.
Thomas responded to my note and wrote, "Ed- interesting idea. As we expand our retail intitiatives it's certainly something we should consider. Thanks for the feedback."
Dell and Dell.com can't be everything to everybody. But for the customers who prefer to buy through a reseller, one button on the company home page could certainly be something.
- How Windows 8 Beta Could Underwhelm Us
- Three New Features For Business We Want In iPad 3
- How Meg Whitman Can Save WebOS
- 'Extra-PC Era' Describes It Better
- LibreOffice’s Bold Course for the Tablet
- Leaving Your iPhone In The Back Of A Cab
- Analysis: Ubuntu's 'Open for Business' Sign To Developers
- Firefox Memory Leaks Once Again Causing Frustrations
- Microsoft’s Windows 8 To Do List Short, But Serious
- The Door Cracks Open for the BlackBerry PlayBook
- Today’s Daily App: Maven Web Browser for iPad
- Will Ubuntu Again Benefit From Industry Turmoil?
- Samsung Takes Swipe At Google With Its Windows 7 Slate
- Intel Inside Android, via McAfee Security
- Why Michael Dell Is Right About PCs, And HP Could Be Wrong
- Why 2011 Is The Year Of Open Source
- What If They Had A Tablet Price War And Nobody Came?
- Why Google Needs to Get a Grip on Security
- Google Puts the Blocks Up With Personal Blocklist
- Is Salesforce.com’s Chatter Just More Noise?
| • |
| • |
| • |
| • |
| • |
| • |
| • |
|
|
