Dell sells its 10 millionth PC: 'Who needs retail?'

Retailers better be looking over their shoulders. Dell Computer Corp., which manufactures computers and sells them over the Internet direct to consumers, started off a press release today touting the sale of the 10 millionth Dell PC over the Internet with the words: "Who needs retail?" Although most brand-name manufacturers have taken a beating trying to sell direct to consumers via the web, Dell has built a highly successful company doing so. Dell's success clearly is inspiring others to use the power of the Internet to cut retailers out of the picture. Most of Dell's systems have been sold in the past three years as Dell aggressively targeted consumers worldwide. And because of Dell's direct one-on-one relationship with customers, the company knows who initially purchased each and every product. Dell, which first focused on the consumer market in 1997, leveraged its direct model with individual consumers the same way it sold to business customers and became the No. 1 PC manufacturer in the U.S. According to Media Metrix, Dell's consumer business has grown faster than any PC maker in the nation.