Dell today confirmed to us that they have stopped selling their popular printer hardware. After quizzing a third-party wholesale supplier, the Dell online chat service, and our Dell Direct Account Manager, we can today confirm that Dell has made the decision to stop selling printers as part of their hardware offering (in the UK at least).
This morning we checked the Dell website and confirmed that all printers had been removed from the Dell UK section, with the exception of their large workhorse C7765dn model.
Speculation could lead us to believe this is the direct result of some sort of fall-out from the recent Dell EMC merger. We found an interesting article from late 2015 on the merger that says:
It makes you wonder how Dell’s acquisition of EMC will affect its printer business. We don’t know how much revenue or profit the printer business generates for Dell since it is a private company (and even when Dell was public, this information was hard to ferret out), but printer sales will be a tiny portion of the combined business. And factoring in the cost of the acquisition—Meg Whitman, CEO of HP, claims Dell will pay $2.5 billion a year in interest alone—the pressure will be on at Dell to improve or cut underperforming lines.
The ditching of the printer line from Dell is a blow to small businesses that rely on high quality, affordable, and reliable printer solutions. It also means that the fantastic warranty upgrades that were available on the product line (next business day support for example) are now no longer obtainable.
Looking at a sample of Dell printers we currently support, it looks like they are in fact just re-branded Xerox or Samsung printers, or even Zebra ID card printers. This change from Dell could also be as a result of HP buying Samsung’s printer business: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37337989
We have also been able to obtain an official statement from Dell which can be seen here: Update on Dell’s Imaging Business Letter
