Consumers Prefer HP (HPQ) Computers To Dell (DELL) 5-To-1: Analyst
Bloomberg: Dell Inc., the world's second-largest personal-computer maker, lost the Black Friday retail battle against Hewlett-Packard Co. in Best Buy Co. stores, Thomas Weisel Partners said in a report.
Customers preferred Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) PCs 5-to-1 over Dell's during the three-day weekend, according to a survey of 35 stores conducted by Doug Reid, an analyst at Thomas Weisel. Best Buy is the largest U.S. electronics retailer.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell ditched the company's direct-sales-only model in an attempt to win back the PC sales lead held by Hewlett-Packard for more than two years. He put Dell products in 20,000 stores worldwide, starting with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy in the U.S.
``Dell has significant work to do,'' New York-based Reid wrote today in the report. ``The only negative comments in our survey with respect to brand were aimed at Dell, with survey respondents noting potential quality issues.''
The survey focused on the U.S. consumer market, which Reid estimated accounts for 13 percent of Dell's revenue. Consumer sales represent about 20 percent of total revenue worldwide.
See Also:
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Dell Sales Miss By A Billion, Profit Good, No Guidance
Sorry State Of PC Industry Getting Worse
Photo: phil_g
They're all the same but it boils down to how consumers view each company's products and in turn, the company.
I quit Dell years ago after a bad support incident soured me. I had to call several times, sometimes because I was cut off (thanks Indian telephone connections!) and explain the situation to several different people who kept running me up some chain to explain it all again. They had me run through diagnostics which made no sense at all given the problem. In the end, they allowed ME to pay shipping to get a replacement part under warranty. No thanks. No more Dell computers for me, ever. I build my own now, thanks to places like newegg, mwave, and zipzoomfly.
This article is not accurate either. The survey was of store clerks and not customers. And the clerks at best buy are not the geek experts that some want to believe.
Also, Dells online sales are better this year than last.