For consumers buying PCs, there is a big difference in the behaviors between the first PC purchase and the purchase of a second, third, or fourth machine. In fact, this difference isn't all that different from that of any other big purchase (car, TVs, furniture, etc.) where the seasoned buyer behaves in many different ways because of his/her knowledge from the first time around. However, in the PC business, there is another critical issue to consider - the purchase channel. And one thing is clear; the repeat buyer has different tastes from the virgin PC buyer.

The big deal is that when it comes to repeat buying, the direct vendors (like Gateway & Dell) pick up a lot of additional business. As their share of business increases among this audience, they've been recording record results. One has to look no further than the recent financial results of both Dell and Gateway to see how much this trend (among others) has been of benefit to these companies.

Source:  MetaFacts Technology User Profile

There are some questions as to why this happens, and I believe that the answers are fairly straightforward. Now this trend does not exist with all customers - looking at different customer segments gives more you understanding - but there are a couple of realities that do play strongly for the direct channel, and to a lesser extent, for PC superstores.

First among these is technical support capabilities. Frankly, most CES tech. support is a joke. As the economy booms, the support staff in many CES stores has become even less capable. And vendor-provided support is often either extremely hard to reach or comes at a "for-fee" basis, and that aggravates the customer to no end. And while we may make some jokes about hold times for Dell and Gateway, the reality is that their tech. support gets problems solved, and responds in a reasonably timely fashion. Indirect vendors are getting better, but the direct folks still have a clear edge in my estimation.

Second is the whole buying experience. There are two advantages here. The system supporting the phone-based rep can be so much more efficient since it doesn't sit on a store floor and be unobtrusive. Most phone reps have lots of binders, even multiple screens, to give them the right answer. It's an implicit unfairness that is just a reality. Also, the online buying experience of the direct vendors forges ahead of the indirect guys who worry (rightly) about perceptions of channel conflict. No indirect vendor has anything that compares to YourWare or Dell's E-Values.