The articles nails it talking about the distribution channels. The small shops that were selling Apples and Ataris refused to carry Commodore computers when they started selling VIC-20s and C-64s at big box stores like Toys R Us. When Commodore had a more powerful, and expensive, computer available, it was too expensive for those stores and they could not support it.
Commodore outsold Apple on the low end by a large factor for many years (and continued to do so in terms of units on a worldwide basis pretty much to the bitter end).
They'd have continued to support Commodore if Commodore didn't continuously mess them around. A major factor was the price war that was to be Jack Tramiel's parting shot: Commodore overnight announced a massive price drop and left their dealers to take the hit on all inventory they already had on hand.
That was typical for Tramiel playing hard-ball but also severely hurt a lot of businesses that had bet on Commodore.
You see the difference when you look at the US market vs. Europe - Europe was handled by subsidiaries that often handled their dealer networks far better. Particularly the UK and Germany were Commodore strongholds. The UK subsidiary actually tried to get financing for a buyout of Commodore International after the bankruptcy, and survived for quite a while on their own financial strength.
