Dell Launches New E-Commerce Superstore

Dell Computer Corporation (Nasdaq: DELL), one of the best known and largest direct computer systems vendors, today unveiled Gigabuys.com, a new online superstore that provides Internet shoppers with a one-stop shopping destination for the purchase of more than 30,000 computer-related products from an extensive array of vendors, other than Dell.

With this new online store, Dell is following an emerging trend among successful PC manufacturers, to round out their offerings by adding software and hardware peripherals to their existing line of PCs. An identical strategy was announced last week by Gateway, which moved from the sale of its PCs only, to provide a vast array of software and related computer products. The only difference between Gateway and Dell in this regard, is that Gateway decided to purchase an ownership stake in NECX, a well established online vendor of software and peripherals, whereas Dell is choosing to develop a new online sales infrastructure from scratch.

Gigabuys.com opened for business this afternoon in the United States. Dell intends to add more shopping features in the coming months and grow beyond its current customer base.

“Gigabuys.com offers all online computer shoppers a convenient way to buy all the software and accessories they need for their computers,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO. “This includes not only Dell’s existing customers, who we hope to deepen our relationship with through www.gigabuys.com, but also customers who haven’t yet bought from Dell and are looking for the best online shopping experience.”

What’s In the New Store

According to Dell, Gigabuys.com offers more than 30,000 computer-related products and services from many of today’s leading brands, and Dell plans to have more than 40,000 products available by later this year. The site offers a consumer-oriented selection of printers, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, scanners, games, imaging and educational software, as well as many products businesses need to keep running such as routers, network cards, cables and docking stations.

The site will offer online shoppers user-friendly navigation, with the ability to search for products by category, manufacturer, product model, features and price. Top-selling products will be coupled with color product photos, feature and benefits, technical specifications and inventory status. Dell will continue to enhance the descriptions further with customer reviews and substitute product recommendations.

The company plans to provide customized features for online shoppers at Gigabuys.com, including a “customer kit” tied into Dell’s PC offerings. The kit identifies software and hardware upgrades for Dell systems according to system model.

Shoppers on Dell’s flagship site, www.dell.com, can now use the same shopping cart for both sites, and links between the two sites make it easy to move from one to the other.

Corporate Profile

Dell.com currently sells more than $14 million (US$) in products each day over the Web, which accounts for 25 percent of the company’s business. The company plans to do 50 percent of its business online by the end of the year 2000. Dell’s Web site attracts more than 25 million Web site visits per quarter, and has unique Web sites for 44 countries in 21 languages. Dell reports that it is the world’s leading direct computer systems company, based on revenues of $18.2 billion for the past four quarters.