Dell Inks Deal With European Retailer Tesco

Dell on Friday added European retailer Tesco to the computer maker's growing list of partners selling Dell products.

Tesco has agreed to sell Dell XPS and Inspiron desktops and notebooks primarily in its U.K. stores, with sales also in Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, Dell said. Besides Europe, Tesco also has stores in Asia, which are not covered in the agreement. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"With over 13 million customers per week shopping at Tesco's stores, this deal will result in substantial exposure for Dell's brand and products," Mark Ormerod, VP and general manager of Dell's consumer business in Europe, said in a statement.

With the new deal, Dell products will be available in more than 10,000 stores worldwide, according to the company. In the last seven months, Dell has announced retail deals with Best Buy, Staples, and Wal-Mart in the United States; DSG International and Carrefour in Europe; Courts in Singapore; Gome in China; Bic Camera in Japan; and Carphone Warehouse in the United Kingdom. Wal-Mart is also selling Dell computers in Canada, Brazil, and Mexico.

Dell moved aggressively into retail stores this year after watching Hewlett-Packard grab market share for more than a year to eventually surpass Dell as the world's largest computer maker. Among consumers, HP's strength has been its eye-catching machines with lots of horsepower for entertainment applications.

As computers take on a bigger role beyond business in people's lives, the market has grown, and manufacturers have had to turn to design to catch consumers' attention, while also making sure the machines have the capabilities people want.

The importance of how a computer looks has made retail stores more important than ever for Dell and other manufacturers. People want to see the computer, touch it, and operate it next to other machines.