Chinese retail chain to sell Dell computers

beijing -- Dell Inc. announced a deal Monday to launch a retail presence in China by selling computers through the country’s biggest chain of electronics stores as it struggles to capture a bigger share of the booming market.

The deal extends Dell’s strategy of expanding beyond its traditional Internet- and telephone-based sales model into retail to cope with competition from Hewlett-Packard Co. and other rivals. Dell also has targeted China with a low-cost personal computer unveiled in March and aimed at rural customers.

Sales will start in 50 Gome Group stores next month and expand to more stores early next year, said Michael Tatelman, vice president of marketing and sales for Dell’s global consumer business.

“Our market share in China is obviously well below our global average. So we hope to be successful here and get our rightful share of the business,” Tatelman said. “We think this partnership gives us a platform to certainly expand our business here.”

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, used to lead global PC sales with its lower-cost direct sales model. But since being overtaken by HP last year, Dell has started to turn to retail sales, including recent deals with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the U.S., Bic Camera Inc. in Japan and Carphone Warehouse in Britain.

Dell says it has about 18% of China’s PC market by revenue and 10% by number of units sold. Worldwide, its market share is 16.1%, according to consulting firm Gartner Group.

In China, Dell trails Beijing-based rival Lenovo Group Ltd., which bought IBM Corp.’s PC business in 2005, and Hewlett-Packard.

The new plan calls for putting Dell employees in some Gome stores. The chain has about 700 outlets in 210 cities in China.

Gome already sells home computers from a wide range of brands, said Wang Junzhou, the company’s executive vice president, who joined Tatelman at the news conference.