Relationship buyers offered Dell its "highest gross margins," (185). Transaction buyers consisted of the small-to-mid-sized businesses and individual home users who placed small and irregular PC orders. Transaction buyers called a different telephone number to order from Dell and rather than have a personalized sales representative team, they would speak with an inside representative who would encourage the buyer to investigate more advanced systems (185).

As Dell grew, the need to refine customer categories grew. To tailor to the specific needs of each market segment, Dell divided its relationship buyers into further categories such as specific governmental sectors or "global enterprise accounts," (185). Dell developed sophisticated means of direct sales, such as its Premier Pages for select relationship accounts: corporations could log onto a special website that would enable them to view their entire transaction and order history and discover when they might need to update their systems.

Regardless of...
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