Business-to-Business Internet Marketing, Fourth Edition - Lifecycle ...

280 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS INTERNET MARKETING
Superior Shareholder Value. Despite Dell’s outstanding earnings
in the past, the stock did get battered in the technology downturn
of 2001.
It was almost as if the Internet was invented for Dell to make its
business model even better. Current Dell initiatives include moving even
greater volumes of product, sales, service, and support to the Internet,
and further expanding an already broad range of value-added services.
The company says the Internet provides greater convenience and efficiency
to customers and, in turn, to Dell. Today about 50% of its technical
support activities and about 76% of Dell’s order-status transactions
occur online.
At the core of Dell’s Internet business is, of course, its Web site,
Dell.com. The site was launched in 1994 and added e-commerce capability
in 1996. It is today one of the highest-volume Internet commerce
sites in the world, receiving 40 million visits per quarter at 78 countryspecific
sites.
Dell’s Web site has become a way to promote efficiencies throughout
the company’s business, including procurement, customer support,
and relationship management. At Dell.com, customers may review, configure,
and price systems within Dell’s entire product line; order systems
online; and track orders from manufacturing through shipping. At
valuechain.dell.com, Dell shares information on a range of topics, including
product quality and inventory, with its suppliers. Dell also uses
the Internet to deliver industry-leading customer services such as E-Support–Direct
from Dell, which offers advanced online customer support;
Dell Talk, an online discussion forum; and Ask Dudley, Dell’s natural
language technical support tool.
Following are brief descriptions of some of Dell’s major e-commerce
initiatives.
Dell Premier Web Pages
More than 58,000 business and institutional customers worldwide use
Dell’s Premier Dell.com Web pages to do business with the company
online. Premier Dell.com is a series of customized electronic storefronts/information
portals for large customers. Premier Dell.com allows
users to configure their systems in real time, with up-to-date
pricing for each organization. Connecting this information resource
to the customer’s purchasing system is relatively straightforward if all
the elements are in place.