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Who Wants to be the Next Dell?
cybercomm writes "Tom's Hardware has a very interesting column regarding the future of beige-box manufacturers, such as Dell, gateway, Compaq, et all. I found this article really thought provoking, since the author has raised some really interesting issues, especially concerning the fact that the writer of the column compares reviewers to the lowest ring of the ladder, and asks one simple question: Instead of whining, why not do it? Why should you learn all the specs on the latest processor and slam the competition just because you may happen to own a P4? Why not start the same way that the Dell, Apple, Gateway, and other founders took by forming your own store, getting in touch with Asian suppliers who "are more than willing" to give you discounts, just so that they can get their foot in the lucrative N. American and European markets. Very interesting reading, that raises another what-if scenario (what if you succed and your business is based on Chinas' dragon CPU, XGI card, open-source OS...)."
i have seen some of these white box laptop systems. all you have to do is put in a hard drive, ram and os. some come with CPUs already. if you did something like this and sold it cheap enough, you could get your foot in the student laptop market. same with pcs them selfs. interesting idea. now for a business plan......
Lotas T Smartman www.lotas-smartman.net
You sold me there on that story. Obviously I'm passing this on to all of those Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie, Harvard, Yale grad CTO's and marketers who work at places like Alienware, Sager, Toshiba, and other smaller comp makers who spend the big bucks. This guy is definitely on to something, and I'm glad Slashdot didn't waste my time posting garbage. Oh yea, that guy's good.
MoFscker
Personally, I think the days of selling general-purpose computers to home users are coming to a close. Within a few years, real computers will be limited to businesses and hobbyists (those who use computers for their hobbies, and those for whom computers *are* a hobby).
"Joe Sixpack" will surf the net on an "Internet Center", listen to MP3s (or whatever DRM-crippled crap has replaced it) on "Media Center", etc. Regular people will stop thinking of these things as computers, and they'll just be happy that they work. To be honest, I don't know what to think of this. If Apple has survived in its niche, I'll still be able to get the stuff I need (heck, *somebody* will make sure that Linux can still run on these devices), but it's a little sad to think that this era might come to an end.
The thing that this jounalist is writing about (very well, I might add) occurs in every industry/walk of life. There are the whiners, and there are the doers. What he doesn't realize is that doers just do it, and ignore these whiners. He ends the article well... "get a grip". Personally, I don't give people like this even that much attention.
..has the author of that column started? His beef is people who complain about hardware rather than building, but he just complains about people who complain. Where's that in the food chain?
Now, you'd better sit down for this one.... but price is NOT the only competitive advantage! In fact any successful businessperson will tell you, it's the WORST way to run a business, because somebody will always be cheaper. Not everybody is looking for cheaper and cheaper. Simple example: MS Windows vs. Linux. Linux is a LOT cheaper, but people still aren't interested. Whatever the reason is, it's very obvious that price is NOT the issue here.
Why not start the same way that the Dell, Apple, Gateway, and other founders took by forming your own store, getting in touch with Asian suppliers who "are more than willing" to give you discounts
Um, I wouldn't put Apple in the same group as Gateway or Dell.
Gateway and Dell did start by piecing together PCs... not much innovation there, just source some parts, stick 'em together, bundle it with an OS, and then you've got yourself a PC business! With good marketing and by learning from mistakes, you could have a billion dollar business!
In contrast, Apple was a manufacturer first. Basically, Apple designed a computer, made boards, designed a custom power supply, had a custom case designed, wrote software, wrote some technical manuals, etc etc.
That's pretty much how Apple does it today, with the exception that Apple has been taking more advantage of some commodity components like drives (they always have) and highly integrated ICs.
Admittedly, Apple has become quiet adept at marketing - and that's a good thing, because Apple has a niche business that requires both innovation (both in marketing and technology) to stay relevant.
It's only recently that Apple started to get into the retail business.
and I've got plenty of advice for those who might want to try it.
1. Don't take on any partners. My company had 3 owners. If it had had one owner and 2 employee's I'd still be in business. Multiple owners means that profit is divided. While you're getting started, you have to live off of whatever miniscule profit you generate. If you have to divide those profits three ways, you're going to have to learn to love Top Ramen.
2. Dealing with local distributors is a great way to get parts quickly, but their prices are awful. Get contacts overseas, and import your own parts, or work with national distributors such as Tech Data or Merisel. Just be aware that their prices will be awful too until your volume comes up.
3. If you're selling computers via mail, etc, be careful with credit cards. Chargebacks come right out of your bank account. Visa/Mastercard/etc. do a great job of protecting the customer because they can steal from the merchants. If you're hit with a chargeback, it doesn't matter that you've been victimized, too. We once had three high-end PCs (marked for signature delivery) "stolen" from a customer's doorstep. Then, when the customer decided he didn't want us to ship replacements and hit us with the chargeback, we were out nearly $10,000. I still believe the customer saw an opening and stole those PCs, but I'll never know for sure.
4. Control support costs. Many small "white-box" PC makers provide top-notch support, but customers will eat you alive if you let them. I realized that when I went over to a good customer's house to help them with a PC problem and ended up looking at a laptop we didn't even sell them. A corollary to this is that if you're going to be providing "personal touch" service, make sure that your pricing reflects it. You can't visit people's houses if you're selling a $500 PC @ 5% margins.
5. Watch inventory. Keep as low a supply on hand as possible, because when component prices drop, customers expect assembled PC prices to drop accordingly, and immediately. Your competitors watch their inventory, too.
6. If you're planning to offer services and support in addition to hardware, consider becoming a VAR instead of a system builder. You can benefit from the marketing opportunities that the Compaqs/IBMs/etc offer, and you don't have to deal with warranty support of your own boxes. If you have a service department, the companies you deal with will pay you to do warranty work.
All in all, I can't say I recommend starting a PC company. Because you're selling what is essentially a commodity, your margins are constantly being squeezed. And that sucks! But, if you have access to Asian manufacturing and can control your costs, you just might prove me wrong. Good luck to all the future captains of industry out there!
Blogging Weight Loss, Distance Education, and more at verlin.com
That's almost like saying "You don't like Chevrolet? Make your own car and compete!"
You have to look at it realistically. As a national manufacturer / re-seller the road will be very tough. Hardware isn't profitable to begin with (margin-wise) and there's not much room in the market. Only company I can think of that "came in" was eMachines, but I don't know anything about them, I just know I didn't see them 10 years ago. But for example, what happenned to Packard Bell?
I think where a lot of value and opportunity lie would be any niche market... Take for example, AlienWare, who makes specific game-oriented PCs. IIRC they will even install games for you and tweak them for your hardware configuration (at no extra cost). Dell doesn't do that, so they're not in direct competition.
So where are there niches? Could someone compete with AlienWare? What about a super high-performance company that sells already-cooled OCd systems? Or an anti-Wintel company that is setting itself up correctly so that, no, you won't be clogged by DRM in a few years? I could imagine a company setting up computers for very cheap that, say, boot up in 10 seconds or less. Sort of internet or email machines for other parts of the home. Or extremely sleek looking systems -- hire a good designer and make stuff that looks better than Apple's, but is a PC inside.
There's lots of room for interesting business models. But why would you need another Dell?
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
I think the point wasn't that there aren't local ordering points (which is what you're describing), but rather, that Dell doesn't have *inventory* in local stores. With a market that goes obsolete so fast, half the investment in local inventory is wasted anyway. So the way to make money is by just-in-time manufacturing -- which I gather is how Dell does it: don't make it til it's been ordered and the money to pay for it is already a done deal.
Obviously there has to be some parts inventory always in their pipeline, so they can deliver in a timely manner, but by the time you get to their size, you KNOW you're going to use, say, 10,000 of a particular video card every day.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Consider this: Design a Linux-based home PC targeted at Wal-Mart customers and their kids. The "no nonsense, no excuses" PC for America.
Electronics suppliers that I've bought from were quite upfront about a sliding scale for more units, lower price. If the bid says 1 widget at $10/ea, 100 widgets at $1/ea, no one expects to get one widget for $1. - This is where Dell gets dirty. They break these types of agreements with impunity. 10 for $1 or 5 for $1.10 becomes 5 for $1 or we'll go to your competitor.
As I said, there's always that promise of the next contract being the big one...kind of like one more pull on the slot machine. The fear is that the payoff will come just as you let your competitor step in.
Then there is also the image thing. You can tout them as a client, pretending you're in control. The hope is your competition doesn't see you bleeding, and they give up the fight, thinking you've managed to beat the beast at their own game. It's a complex issue, and one that is only slightly better grasped by being consumed and worn down. Is it better to lose face by not engaging them in the first place, or do you worry about losing face by being beaten up down the road...?
There is no honor in sitting on the side lines. You got into this business to compete. But when Dell moves the ball after the whistle blows, you'll lose everytime.