Dell quietly jacks up EMEA prices Dell quietly jacked up its prices at the start of this year, but its account managers are only now filtering that information through to the computer maker’s partners and customers, The Register has learned. The firm, which plays second fiddle only to Hewlett-Packard on worldwide computer shipments, didn't go public with its …
So let me get this right.. when the euro's value is up against the dollar, they don't announce that it's now cheaper in the EU (who are already being charged significantly more for many items, even adjusting for tax rate differences).. but the moment the euro's value goes up, they must hike the price!
I expect what's really happening is Dell market research has decided that those who can still afford to buy computers in Europe will still do just that (since we don't subscribe nearly so much to hysterical end-of-the-world news - probably something about more-or-less trusting our euro-zone Governments to look after us, and them more-or-less doing it), so it comes down to profiteering and what the market will bear.. I'll bare this: {*}
My UK reseller warned me a fortnight ago that HP are raising their prices this weekend. Irritatingly they (HP, not my supplier) wont reveal by how much and are refusing to issue quotes for orders today. In my case we'll buy from elsewhere in the EU where the vendors recognise that having some cashflow and profit is better than ignoring the customer, and the rise doesnt seem to be affecting them, something I am sure is to do with the Euro being better than the GBP (Gordon Brown Peso).
Its a shame as it means the profit goes overseas as well, a bit ironic as we are trying to buy this kit to stop the offshoring of other IT functions as well. Another nail in the coffin then....
Dell's prices have gone completely stupid IMHO. I was buying Latitude D830s for £780 before Christmas, now the new equivalent E6500 costs around £930. That's a rise of around 27%. The cheek of it is discontinuing a model and replacing it with something more expensive. I buy lots of these machines, but Dell aren't willing to budge... now who else is looking to make inroads into the sector... those Lenovo T500s look might nice!
One small server I priced up in December had gone up by 47% in January to me as a dell dealer
Discount on Latitude PCs has dropped dramatically
Dell are now charging dealers extra £17 per pc carriage thus cutting dealer margins dramatically.
Apart from that they are good reliable PCs and on site service is good in UK
But as a dealer you never know from one month to another what your discount will be which is a real problem. You are just subject to the changing mood of Dells marketing dept.
"Isn't most European Dell kit made in Europe, so shouldn't be subject to USD/EUR variations?"
The box is probably put together in Europe. But, motherboards are typically made in China. CPUs and other chips? There's a foundry or two in germany, but I don't know if they make CPUs etc. still or not -- the rest are made mainly in Taiwan and Singapore.
I've stripped apart and put together a few thousand Dells (working at a surplus). I'm certain a Dell Optiplex (the GX240-GX280 at any rate) could be pieced together (including the case from it's individual pieces) in under 5 minutes, and perhaps under 2 minutes, meaning the actual assembly shouldn't affect the price much.
The big questions then, does Dell buy European-built dell CPUs, motherboards, etc. in dollars or euros? (Even if they go direct to europe they may still purchase in dollars I suppose) And how do those two currencies compare presently to taiwanese etc. currency? That's what will affect prices the most.
Of course, I don't have answers for any of this, it could still just be a big ol' fashioned cash grab by Dell.
Have pretty good relations with my dell peeps, and they gave me warning about this a few weeks back.
I'm using it as a negotiation tool to get some new stuff ordered against my managers - "If you keep dithering over whether to buy this stuff, the cost will go up noticably - so make your mind up"
The kit is required, but beancounters are involved, which is where the problem comes in, of course!
Anon as my People read this....
This is a simple case of inflation, an increase in the supply of money produced by government printing press. The increase in the supply of money causes a decrease in the value of money (because there is more of it the money is worth less). Since the money is not worth as much as it used to, business must increase their prices to keep up with the inflation, otherwise they will end up losing money and going out of business. You will notice other businesses doing the same thing, if they have not done so already.
well i reckon that they will still be pushing decent deals out because tyhey are gonna be desperate to hit monthly targets and bonuses.
At the end of the day they are probably gonna start ignoring the pitifull margins made and go just for the bonuses
Paris cause she knows a good bonus hen she see's it
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
