By utilizing e-commerce and a make to order approach, how did Dell gain a competitive advantage over other PC and PC-clone makers?

Michael Dell started his PC company in his dorm room in Texas in 1984. He recognized he could build a quality product at lower prices by just using market available components, beating established manufacturers' pricing and exceeding their computers in performance and quality This unique selling method which Dell initiated created a high- value high quality custom-built (make to order) Personal Computer, which would be sold directly though mail-order to knowledgeable buyers vis computer-mugarine advertisements Dell focused on having a casy return policy and excellent customer service. The company soon developed a brand reputation for delivering quality at competitive pricing How did Michael Dell do this? In fact, it was by accident...... Dell would be the first to admit a 'build to order' mentality was a result of a lack of capital and some desperation. The typical build to stock business model was just not within his capitalization capability, so a different strategy was needed. "Well, we started the company by building 20 the customer's order. We didn't do it came wen om massive purum in the future. Basically, we just didn't have any capital..." Michael Dell In an era of high interest rates compared to today. Dell was able to keep costs low by avoiding the typical retail distribution channel. This meant not incurring costs of warchousing inventory storage and being able to limit expensive inventory carrying costs. He was also able to virtually eliminate costly obsolescence that a typical PC retailer would face during this period of rapid technological change. Dell faced limited amount of obsolescence costs as his build to order customer model would be better suited to shortened product life cycles. Although this supply strategy turned out to be an accidental haven for growth, Dell faceda daunting task of maintaining product competitiveness and price advantage. With an incredible 10MB hard drive, advanced Intel 8088 processor spooling at a mind boggling 8MHz (8 million cycles second Dell introduced its first full computer system, the Turbo PC in 1985 (pictured. While these specs were heart stopping then, by todays standards are Gigahertz behind modem systems. Still the Turbo PC truly launched Dell into the world of premium PC production The product story continues. 1989: mobile computing laptop 1991: Laptop colour screens 1994: lithium ion batteries! The internet came calling in 1996 and they were one of the first to adapt their mail order model to the web and use it for sales ordering, and later e-commerce. By 1999. Dell replaced Compaq as the leading seller of PC's in the US. Dell was declared a world-leading e-commerce company in 2007 In later years Dell grew into a broader technology firm, with a focus on PC's and the low cost of customization was still appealing. Yet, the market was changing as the market matured Less people were opting for the custom order solution and were secking baskets of product innovations and features, bundled into convenient packages. As customization and build to order wanted, PC buyers were looking for sce-before buying approach, The solution...a new bricks and mortar conventional make-to stock retail strategy. Imagine this...a pioneer in e-commerce now goes reverse-trend and adopts the so called aging and dying retail store strategy to maintain and grow its market share Did this strategy work? Despite all the retail mayayers in the world and the advent of Amazon empire, here is a fact: It took DELL 13 years to reach S6 billion in sale! Yet, it took only 6 quarters (1 years) to reach an additional S6 billion with new retail channels