It would be too pessimistic to conclude that a slowdown from Dell’s extraordinary growth rate
is evidence that its investments in e-commerce are not paying off. A longer term view that
looks at the 1995-2000 period suggests that the company is indeed benefiting from its
pioneering use of the Internet as a business tool. The benefits of e-commerce include closer
customer integration, higher customer satisfaction, supply chain efficiency, and lower costs for
selling and supporting PCs and related products. Another clear benefit is the ability to extend
the Dell brand to non-PC products and services, particularly for the Internet market, using
Dell’s reputation as an e-commerce leader as a selling point.