- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
- Dubai Seeks Debt Delay, Stokes Default Fears
- Black Friday to Avoid Red Ink; Greenback Gets the Blues
- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
- AIG, Ex-CEO Greenberg Reach Pact to Settle Disputes
- Bank of America CEO Search May Extend Into 2010
- Steepest Black Friday Discounts, Revealed
- Fed to Counsel Moviegoers on How to Use Credit Cards
- 'Cancer of Fraud' Permeates Health Care System: Critics
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
MOST SHARED
- The Executive Job Search
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
- Salvation Army's Kettles Now Credit Card-Ready
- Chinese Overcapacity is Worsening, EU Chamber Warns
- Activision Prepares to Double Dip on ‘Modern Warfare 2’
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- Oil Friday
ABOUT THIS BLOG
|
This blog will look at the winners and losers in the retail space. Who has the right strategy to capture consumer dollars? It also will look for trends in consumer spending and how that will impact the economy.
Text Size 
 |
AP Dell Laptops |
] choice to launch its new product line at Macy's [M
Loading...
()
] in Herald Square. The launch will be Tuesday morning in Manhattan and Dell executives including Sr. Vice President Alex Gruzen will be on hand for the runway show of products. Here's the curious part: Macy's does not sell computers. In fact, they have not sold them since the 1980s. You can buy laptop carrying cases, iPod speaker systems and all sorts of digital clock pieces but those seem to be the only hardware that the department store stocks.
While Dell executives and Macys executives remain mum on just what we can expect to see on the runway Tuesday morning from Dell, the invitation says to expect the "new devices" will "go with everything in your wardrobe." That description has lead many to speculate that the line will be a new round of colorful laptops that will compete with Apple's [AAPL
Loading...
()
] image conscious and popular iMac books. (Check out this blog for pictures of what many believe will be the laptop shown tomorrow.)
According to the invite, the launch is part of a "trend at Dell" (read rebranding of its consumer computer product lines.) Just whether Macys will be a retailer that will carry that line is unclear. There has been a LOT of speculation about just which retailer will be the next distribution point for Dell products--given the struggling computer company's recent announcement that Wal-Mart [WMT
Loading...
()
] will be the first brick and mortar retailer to carry the company's product. Most analysts are eager to hear whether Dell will sell at Circuit City [CC
Loading...
()
] , Best Buy [BBY
Loading...
()
] or any of the consumer electronics stores that actually DO SELL computers. All of this makes tomorrow's event all the more intriguing.
Another interesting part of the equation is why Macy's would choose to get involved with this event tomorrow. According to Macy's press office, the Herald Square location was selected due to its "world famous" setting and the desire for Dell to be associated with a "fashion" conscious brand. Here's the problem with that explanation: It is hard to believe though that Dell couldn't think of other retail sites or famous locales for its brand positioning event.
The only computer-related part of Macy's business that the company has been very public about wanting to expand is the online segment NOT actually hardware. Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren has been focusing on ramping up Macy's online sales. According to Internet Retailer, Macys.com and its Bloomingdales.com sites brought in online sales of $620M last year, up 38% from the year before.
Stay tuned for a glimpse of what the new laptops will look like. We'll post pictures from the launch tomorrow.
- For nearly three decades, these on-call experts have been dishing advice on how to – and not to – cook turkey.
- Eric Schmidt pledges to create a virtual copy of the Iraq National Museum at Google’s expense.
- Bill Griffeth is taking a leave of absence from CNBC and Power Lunch for a year. Here's a message from Bill.
- More shoppers than ever plan to comparison-shop this season. Who will benefit?
- It may be the most unusual guide to business you'll read.
- How can you get out of debt and back on the road to recovery? Follow these ten steps.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes