Dell To Sell Systems Through Wal-Mart

Dell will begin selling PCs through mega-retailer Wal-Mart on June 10, offering two desktop SKUs in its first step back into retail since the 1990s.

Dwayne Cox, a Dell spokesman, said the move is part of the company's evolving strategy to begin reaching customers through additional sales channels, as the Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker takes another step toward reinventing itself.

"Our customers are asking us for additional ways to buy our stuff, to buy our products," Cox said. "We plan to do that, to deliver against their request on a global level."

The Wal-Mart decision comes a week after Dell chairman and CEO Michael Dell told CRN in an interview that his company would relaunch a worldwide retail initiative in the coming quarters, and would be aggressive in doing so.

Dell will ship a Dimension e521 without a monitor and a Dimension e521 with a 19-inch flat-panel display into 3,000 Wal-Mart locations in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, Cox said. Pricing on the systems is not yet being disclosed.

The company's rivals, including Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Gateway and Apple, all have reported PC unit growth through retail outlets over the past 18 months.

Dell is rewriting its sales strategy and will also begin expanding its sales to commercial and government resellers. It has committed to creating a Dell Authorized Partner program with incentives for solution providers it has not yet provided.