Dell looks to Exertis for UK retail comeback

'It's a very different Dell that comes into retail now, compared with the Dell that left two years ago,' UK channel boss insists

Dell has appointed Exertis as sole distie for the UK retail space as it looks to make a comeback in the market after admitting it could have done "a lot better" in the past.

Two years ago, Dell decided to take its foot off the accelerator in the retail market to focus on other areas instead, but now it claims the UK retail arena is high on its agenda.

Dell products were still available through resellers, as well as through its in-house sales team and via its website during this period, but it was not a high priority for the company and received minimal investment.

Dell's UK channel general manager Sarah Shields (pictured) said the vendor exited the retail space in the first place because it needed to look around globally at where it was being successful and where its biggest opportunities were in the market.

"The retail side was not our finest hour," she told CRN. "The products we had at the time were OK, but I think we knew we could be doing a lot better. When we first launched into retail we had a terrific line-up; we had a full range of Dell colours and we were really different. But towards the end we had lost the differentiation."

To mark its push into the UK retail space, Dell has appointed long-term distie Exertis as sole distributor in the UK retail market.

Shields insisted it is "a very different Dell coming into the market now, than the Dell that left retail two years ago".

Ahead of its efforts to refocus on retail, Shields said Dell has been testing the waters in certain countries.

"Two years of not spending any money on retail or driving a consumer brand has resulted in that budget being moved from multiple countries around the world to focusing on five key territories: China, India, Brazil, Canada and the US," she said.

She added that by focusing all Dell's efforts on those five regions, as opposed to spreading its reach too thinly, it has been able to grow significantly and move up from the bottom of the pile to the top of the vendor hierarchies in many countries.

Shields said the UK was now a high priority for Dell.

"When we looked at what we should choose to be the next move, it was a pretty easy decision," she said. "Plus with the existing partnership we have with Exertis it was a kind of no-brainer; we just had to continue that."

Mike Buley, retail director at Exertis, concluded: "From our point of view we are absolutely delighted that we are able to partner again in the retail market.

"We have got a good relationship with Dell. As said previously it has not always been perfect but after seven or eight years we have got a really good understanding of their processes, how they work and how they go to market. So hopefully we have become a bit of a natural choice for Dell."