Dell inks retail pact with Staples
Dell has expanded its retail distribution via a deal with Staples to sell PCs, monitors, printers and ink and toner.
The pact, which was announced Monday, will kick off Nov. 11. At the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo earlier this month, CEO Michael Dell hinted at a retail deal. Under the partnership, Dell will sell its wares via 1,400 Staples stores and Web site. According to a statement, which had more "Easy Button" references than I can stand, Dell outlined the product lineup offered via Staples:
- Inspiron 1721 and 1521 notebooks;
- Inspiron 530 desktops;
- Dell 948 and 926 all-in-one inkjet printers;
- Dell 1320c laser printer;
- Dell SE198WFP 19-inch widescreen flat panel LCD monitor;
- Dell E228WFP 22-inch widescreen flat panel LCD monitor;
- And Dell-branded ink and toner.
Dell's products are now available in 10,000 stores globally including Wal-Mart. In a blog post, Dell said it got the Staples partnership ink idea from the IdeaStorm site. Overall, the Staples pact makes more sense for Dell from a branding perspective since the two companies have a similar audience.