January 30, 2003

Intuit's Quickbooks Point of Sale and Dell's new retail push

Dell recently announced their push into the retail market, I wondered how Intuit's Quickbooks Point of Sale was doing in light of Dell's announcement.

Here's some commentary from Intuit's Corporate Communications Manager, Charles Var:

Q: How does this affect your own QBPOS

No affect at all. Dell is targeting medium and large retailers like WetSeal, which is a giant publicly traded retail company. QuickBooks Point of Sale is perfect for small, one-store retailers that need an easy-to-use and affordable system.

Take pricing for example. Dell's $1,800 pricing only includes the hardware. It does not account for the POS software, which is sold and distributed separately. Solutions from POS software providers like the ones that Dell partnered with can range in price anywhere from $3K-$10K for installation, customization and ongoing maintenance. In fact, you'll probably have to call them directly to even get a price quote.

In comparison, QuickBooks Point Sale costs approximately $1,500 for hardware (sans PC and touch screen) and software, is designed to be self-installed by the retail owner and is available at retail stores where these small business owners shop. And QB POS integrates with QuickBooks accounting software, which is a key benefit to small retailers.

Q: Will Dell succeed

I do think that Dell's announcement validates the value of POS technology. But Dell is targeting a much different group of retailers than Intuit is with QuickBooks Point of Sale, so we really can't say.

Q: Is Dell over extending itself

We're really not in a position to say. Dell is a smart company and a great partner of Intuit's, so we'll be rooting for them.

Q How are QBPOS sales going

Great. In our last earnings report, Intuit announced that we had sold 4,000 QB POS units since launching the product back in April 2002. That's pretty exciting and it reaffirms our belief that small retailers had a clear need for an easy-to-use solution that was affordable and integrated with QuickBooks financial software. We're really pleased.

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