Tesco shoppers will be able to purchase Dell computers next year following a European-wide retail agreement between the two companies.

Dell's XPS desktop and Inspiron notebook computers will go on sale in Tesco stores in the UK in January, but it is expected to be later in the year when they are available in Irish stores.

Tesco is just the latest retailer to sign up with Dell. Last week it announced a deal with DSG International, the owner of the PC World, Currys and Dixons retail outlets, which will result in Dell computers being available in Irish shops for the first time next month.

Dell once prided itself on the fact that it only sold directly to customers. The company's direct sales model, initially over the telephone but subsequently on the web, was once hugely profitable for the company that Michael Dell founded while still a student in 1984.

Increased competition from HP and a resurgent Apple, have eroded the advantages of that model. Dell lost its position as the world's number one PC manufacturer and suffered a series of disappointing quarterly results.

During summer 2006 it had to recall millions of laptop batteries manufactured by Sony due to a fault. The company was also subject to an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which led it to restate results from 2003 to 2007.

As a result, Mr Dell resumed his role as chief executive last year and has pursued an aggressive strategy to build a retail channel for the company.

Following the Tesco deal, the company's products will be available in more than 10,000 stores around the world. It has done deals with some of the biggest retail chains including Wal-Mart in the US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico; Carrefour in Europe; Best Buy in the US; and Carphone Warehouse in the UK.

Dell has yet to release details of how much of its revenues it is deriving from its retail relationships. The move into the retail space is designed to increase the amount of revenues it derives from consumers. Currently about 70 per cent of the Texan com-pany's sales are to businesses.

The company is also trying to capitalise on its dominance in PCs to move into other areas of the computer industry.

Dell employs 4,500 people in Ireland at a manufacturing facility in Limerick and a sales and marketing operation in Cherrywood, Co Dublin.