Dell Streamlines Pricing and Offers

As a response to criticisms of its often difficult to comprehend price scheme, Dell is completely changing the way it charges consumers.

In a major announcement earlier this month, Dell proclaimed that it would streamline offers for small businesses and home purchasers by eliminating random offers and mail-in rebates.

With business consumers comprising 85% of Dell sales, the company has been seeking an effective method of expanding its success in the home computer market. Other strategies, including forays into television and printers, have had mixed results. Such failures have led Dell to manipulate its most successful and yet stunted PC division, which has seen profits drop as low-end computers continue to dominate the market, offering manufacturers equally-low profits. (Source: zdnet.com)

Part of the initiative to increase sales is to reduce the number of offers on product lines by 70%, with individual product offers slipping even further at 80%. Now, consumers should realize that this doesn't mean Dell is eliminating special offers, but is instead reducing the rather random number of offers it presents.

Customers have in the past complained that the entire price point depended on fluctuating deals, some changing so frequently that an offer one day could be completely different the next. (Source: zdnet.com)

In addition, mail-in rebates will largely be scrapped. Instead, Dell is introducing an online rebates system, where customers can log onto Dell's website instead of waiting weeks for the postal service. Considering those purchasing computers will almost surely have a connection to the Internet, this makes sense. How many people with it would really prefer snail mail anyhow?

Dell's simplified pricing comes at the same time as its stock drops to a 52-week low. For Dell, the next step is pretty simple, indeed: can't go anywhere but up from here.