Compaq registers growth in direct Internet PC sales

BANGALORE: Compaq Computer Asia Pacific has announced substantial growth in

its share of Asia Pacific direct Internet PC shipments among computer

manufacturers for the second quarter 2001. According to International Data

Corporation's (IDC) Asia Pacific PC Tracker quarterly report, Compaq's market

share grew 129 per cent from the second quarter of the previous year.






Worldwide IDC PC Tracker figures showed that Compaq's market share grew 70 per
cent year over year, moving Compaq into second place in global Internet direct

sales.

In India, this trend is strongly reflected in the sales from Compaq India's
online PC store, CoolDukaan. CoolDukaan is an Indian online store with

end-to-end execution. CoolDukaan completed one year in October 2001 and has till

date recorded pure B2C sales of over 1600 PCs amounting to Rs 6 crore in

revenues. This figure is in addition to Compaq's B2B revenues.

The rise in market share can be attributed to a focused worldwide e-business

strategy being driven to execution by strong alignment across business and

regional operations teams. The aggressive rollout of a comprehensive B2B

extranet strategy and the optimization of the company's Compaq.com Web site have

been key components of this success. Site improvements have included a new

design and streamlined navigation to increase usability and integrate online

purchasing options throughout the site, resulting in increased sales

conversions.






According to a separate report published by Boston-based research firm Summit
Strategies, the improvements have made Compaq.com an exceptional source of

product information and customer service for potential buyers. "The new

Compaq site is a stunning example of some e-selling principles at their

best," states Summit Strategies' Marty Gruhn in the October issue of the

firm's newsletter, SummitVision.






"Our key objective is to establish Compaq as an Internet leader by driving
our e-business strategy and efforts regionally as well as worldwide," said

Paul Blinkhorn, vice president, Access Business Group, Compaq Computer Asia

Pacific. "Customers in Asia Pacific have begun to realize that doing

business online enables them to quickly access the most up-to-date product

information, make better business decisions, and significantly enhance overall

efficiency. The market share growth is proof that we are on target and are

building momentum."






Compaq.com receives more than six million customer visits each week, making the
site one of the most-visited IT destinations on the Web. By using customer

feedback and data, the current design simplified the previous homepage by

clarifying categories and reducing the number of links, allowing users to get to

the areas they are most interested in quickly.