DELL has bran-ched out of its age-old direct selling model in Singapore by using Courts to market computers but this is only a small step in the firm's big plan for re-invigorating PC growth across both consumer and enterprise segments, a senior company official said.

Following similar moves made in other countries, Dell yesterday announced it has picked furniture and electronics chain Courts as its flagship local retail partner, ending its long-standing policy of selling products strictly through phone and Internet orders to local customers.

As previously reported by BizIT, this move has been in the works for nearly six months as Dell went through the process of shortlisting suitable allies from Singapore's cut-throat IT retail scene.

Like the deal it struck with Wal-Mart in the United States earlier this year, Dell will offer only selected products through the nine Courts outlets in Singapore.

The firms declined to provide details when contacted, but Biz-IT understands that these products include four notebooks from Dell's Inspiron line as well as its newer XPS-M1330 laptop, two desktop computers, as well as LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors.

'We look at how to differentiate the retailer. HP (Hewlett Packard) treats every retailer the same. You get the same computer in every store,' Mark Jarvis, Dell's chief marketing officer, said in an interview on Tuesday.

Besides Singapore and the US, the PC behemoth has also partnered other retailers like Bic Camera in Japan and GOME in China.

With these partnerships, Dell is increasingly embracing a business model it has once eschewed. The company has long resisted the move to retail, instead priding itself on passing on savings to customers by selling direct without a middleman to add to the cost of a product.

It had opened a 'Dell Kiosk' at Suntec City in Singapore three years ago. This outlet allows consumers to get a feel of the products but they were still required to place their orders online.

However, with the resurgence of arch-rival HP, coupled with its own sputtering performance, industry watchers believe Dell's hand was eventually forced to move beyond direct selling.

Dell currently ranks second in terms of worldwide PC shipments after HP. Statistics from IDC show that it is lagging further behind in Singapore, where it only managed a fourth spot in the second quarter of this year, trailing HP, Acer and Lenovo, companies that all boast a strong retail presence.

'Forty per cent of all notebooks are bought through retail so it's important that we sell through retail,' Mr Jarvis admitted.

'It is definitely a necessary move for them (Dell). When you look at the growth in PC market today, a lot of it is focused on the retail sector.

'More specifically, consumers are buying notebooks and this is fuelling the market,' explained Bryan Ma, director of personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific.

Despite inking new retail agreements globally, Dell still maintains that the bulk of its PCs will be sold through the Internet.

'We did not set out with a plan to sell as many computers as you can (through retail). We want to change the market and be different,' Mr Jarvis said.

For example, Dell promises to alleviate inventory, warehousing and transportation issues for retailers by allowing them to order and promptly replenish stocks only when needed.

'If they're down to say three computers, they can order directly we'll ship there and then,' he said, adding that this short turnaround is achieved through Dell's tried and tested supply chain but competitors would require a longer lead time.

'If Intel announces new chip, we could have computers (with the new chip) available to retailers two days later worldwide,' Mr Jarvis added.

And instead of replacing its direct business, retailers could in fact help drive Internet orders. 'Wal-Mart actually increases sales on Dell.com,' he revealed. This is because consumers could initially be lured by what they see in stores but they subsequently go online to order the same product with customised specifications such as a bigger hard disk.

More importantly, he stressed that retail expansion is merely the tip of the iceberg in Dell's overall strategy for growth. 'You're seeing only five per cent of the plan,' Mr Jarvis said. 'Going forward, the direct model will allow us to have more and more services into companies.'

While short of concrete details, he revealed that one such offering could come in the form of a Virtual CIO (chief information officer) for smaller businesses. This is essentially a service which allows Dell to remotely manage a company's printers, servers and computer systems through the Internet.

For consumers, Dell will also shift its focus from function to form by coming up with flashier designs and allowing more personalisation options.

'The direct model has so far focused on what is inside the box. What if we applied it to the outside of the box? We'll allow you to customise colours and even put a picture,' he said.

'If you're a mum buying computers for kids, we could allow you to pre-load Disney movies. We will start to add in more content going forward and you will see more remote services,' Mr Jarvis added.

'Over the course of the next few months, we will redefine the direct model and leverage it in ways we haven't done before,' he said.