Dell Agrees to Sell PCs at Retailer in China

BEIJING, Sept. 24 (Bloomberg News) — Dell Inc. said on Monday that it would begin selling desktop computers and laptops through China’s largest electronics retailer.

The company, based in Round Rock, Tex., will sell computers in 50 stores operated by Gome Electrical Appliances Holding in major Chinese cities, starting early next month, and will expand to other cities in the first half of next year, Dell said in a statement in Beijing.

Dell has made similar agreements in the United States, Japan and Europe this year as market share losses forced its chairman, Michael S. Dell, to end a two-decade-old practice of shunning retailers.

Gome’s stores may help Dell increase sales in China, the world’s second-largest PC market, where it trails the Lenovo Group, Hewlett-Packard and the Founder Technology Group.

Shares of Dell rose 11 cents, to $27.87, on Nasdaq.

As of the second quarter, Lenovo leads in China’s market for desktop computers and notebooks, with a 35.8 percent share, according to the research firm IDC. Hewlett-Packard is second, with 13.4 percent. It is followed by Founder Technology, based in Shanghai, with 12 percent. Dell is fourth, with 8.1 percent.

China’s growing wealth is fueling demand for electronic products. Disposable incomes of urban Chinese jumped 18 percent in the first half, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

“Over the next two years, the growth of the desktop market in China will make it a larger market than the U.S.,” said Michael Tatelman, vice president for marketing and sales for Dell global consumer business.

This year, Dell began selling computers in the United States through Wal-Mart Stores. It also forged agreements with the Carphone Warehouse Group in Britain and with Bic Camera in Japan. Last week, Dell said it planned to open its first retail store in Russia.

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