v. To beat a competitor by eliminating the middleman and selling directly to customers.
1999
Ted Rybeck, chairman of consultants Benchmarking Partners, is warning that "Delling" could spread to the car, chemicals and banking sectors.
1999
The market is about the future, but even many businesspeople prefer to preserve the status quo, since truly competitive markets drive down profits. Sound public policy means encouraging true risk-takers to get on with the job of innovation; though necessary, it will take more than tax cuts to enhance our standard of living.
None of this will be easy, but in today's world our choice is whether to Dell, or be Delled.
None of this will be easy, but in today's world our choice is whether to Dell, or be Delled.
1998 (earliest)
We've been to this movie before," Mr. Dell said, referring to past attempts to copy Dell's business model. "Their prices are higher than ours; they don't have our cost structure; they have the dealers in tow," he said. "Dell is successful because it brought something new and interesting to the PC business. Can you succeed by out-Delling Dell?
This verb comes from Dell Computers, which used direct sales to become one of the top computer manufacturers in the world, with current sales of US$18 billion.