Two years after Dell entered the printer market, the local office is in the process of setting up a logistics operation for the fulfilment of printer consumables in South Africa.

Dell estimates that it has distributed around 8 million printers to customers worldwide to date, and, while Paul Bell, Dell president for EMEA, says that market share is in the single digits, the company?s value proposition is driving sales, even locally.

?Customers like the idea of being told how much more they can print from a nearly-depleted cartridge, and being able to order online and have the consumables delivered to their doorstep is, we believe, a compelling value-add,? Bell says.

Up until now, the Dell printer range available to local businesses has been limited, but the company has been able to fulfill customers? needs for consumables, says Stewart van Graan, MD of the local Dell office.

?We are currently under guidance for setting up the relevant logistics systems to be able to offer more products and consumables to local businesses,? he says. ?This should be completed by the end of this quarter.?

According to Bell, another product range that is starting to take off is LCD panels, where businesses and consumers are showing increased interest in purchasing these products separate from a PC.

Dell South Africa last Tuesday celebrated its ten-year anniversary, ironically on the same day that Lenovo launched its local operation.

When Dell SA was established in 1995, the multinational was only a US$5 billion company and still a relatively small company in international terms, says Bell.