Brazier – ‘Direct selling is dying’

Steve Brazier, president and CEO of analyst firm Canalys has stated that the direct model of PC distribution is dying and will never recover.

In a clear attack on Dell’s current strategy, Brazier (pictured), who was speaking at Acer’s Global Press Conference, said that: "One thing that will not happen is that direct will recover. It will continue to lose market share against the channel, which has proved itself to be the superior method of reaching customers."

He also made it clear that attempting to combine the two was also a mistake. "Having a mixed approach to retail, that is to say, attempting to straddle both the channel and a direct sales model simply won’t work."

He also had warnings for those who believed that regional resellers were the way of the future as well as assuring the channel that DHL and UPS simply weren’t prepared or flexible enough to replace distributors.