The success of Dell's use of the Internet as a sales channel Dell is currently the number one PC vendor in the world, a position in the market that it took from Compaq in April 2001. In short, the company's success story is mainly due to its innovative direct business model, which pays special attention to the sales process in which Dell completely bypasses all the intermediaries and/or intermediaries. This is because Michael Dell believed they added little to no value in the end. product, instead only earning a considerable markup for selling the product. Therefore, they became the first PC manufacturer to completely eliminate resellers and instead sell customized computers directly to customers based on their exact specifications. This sales process began by telephone and through catalogs, but in 1996 Dell embarked on Internet sales on its official website, Dell.com, offering customers the opportunity to purchase desktops, notebooks, and servers directly from them. To successfully power online commerce for any business, the core technology required is the installation of servers and data storage systems. The Dell.com website runs on industry-standard Dell PowerEdge servers. These powerful servers are backed up by Dell/EMC Fiber Channel storage. Dell is therefore equipped with backup strategies in case problems arise and occur with the servers or software. This is crucial, as users may start to view this distribution channel as unreliable if failures are recurring and could turn them away from not only purchasing from Dell.com but anything from the company. According to the company's internal metrics, Dell.com is one of the most responsive websites on the Internet, with an average download time of 1 second per page. This briefly explains the technology used to power the website, however customers can simply access it via an internet browser, the most popular being Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Explorer. Dell's direct business model (can be seen on page three) may be simple in theory, however. it is very complicated to do it in reality. Building PCs to order means they must have parts and components available to make a wide range of possible specifications in a short period of time (to ensure a minimum time between order and production). To fill these orders quickly, Dell needs to have world-class manufacturing and... half of the paper... that are effective. As mentioned, customer service has also improved further from an already high standard. Dell has created many online services that allow the customer to clearly see the entire purchasing process once an order is placed. It offers the customer the ability to monitor the progress of their order as it is produced and delivered, providing them with constant feedback on delivery dates and product information. 24-hour customer service and quick response times help Dell build a strong relationship with customers. References --- The key references provided above were to the following two links: - http://www1. euro.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/home?c= uk&l=en&s=corp - http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/ en/2003/2003_10_20_rr_002?c=us&l=en&s=corp Other websites found with useful details on Dell's direct selling model:- http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=6717- http ://www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies/casestudy.asp?CaseStudyID=14674- http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/policy/en/policy?c=us&l =en&s=gen&=006