InsideTech

News >> Browse Articles >> Hardware

Wal-Mart, Dell Team Up for In-store Electronics Services

‘Solution Station by Dell being tested in 15 Texas stores.’ -

Wal-Mart is known widely to be one of the biggest retailers in the country and world. The retail giant has enough market might to have some control over pricing and also has a reputation of having some of the poorest customer service and in-store help of any retail chain.

When Wal-Mart began talking about ways to expand its presence into untapped markets it talked about two things. First it said that it wanted to expand its stores into Asian countries. Wal-Mart also said that it was eying entering into the electronics services arena and offer PC repairs, installations and other service that competitors like Best Buy and Circuit City already offered in stores.

Many familiar with the type of customer service Wal-Mart typically offers wondered exactly how the retail giant would integrate this type of higher-level service into its stores. The Wall Street Journal reports that Wal-Mart has teamed up with Dell to offer electronics services in 15 of its stores in the Dallas, Texas area.

The service centers installed into the test stores will be manned by Dell employees and will be called Solution Station by Dell. Solution Station services will include repair and consulting for networking products and computers sold at Wal-Mart and would also cover the installation of flat panel TVs and home theater systems.

Dell has offered some services in customer homes in the past with its direct sales business, but this is the first time Dell has offered services like this through retail outlets. Over the next few months, Wal-Mart says that it will evaluate the service. If successful the service could be rolled out to additional stores.

© 2008, DailyTech

---