QVC, you need to look to your past

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

Watching Evine today and some really beautiful Tiffany type lamps. Remember when you used to present them (I know they are still available online, but that isn't the same)?

Another poster has asked about clocks.

Your Home and Holiday forum are quite active. People are still into home decor and holiday items, but you no longer offer as many vendors or programs that you did back in the day, for those type products.

Every couple of months someone on here starts a 'remember when' thread about great old vendors and products (Peterboro, Radko, Fenton, Linda Dano, Tiffany style lighting, Boyd's bears, etc.). They bring up old games, contests, and new products searches.

What do you really have to loose, trying to revisit some of the old things and product lines/categories/programming styles, that were once so popular. In all my years in retail the one thing I learned is that everything is cyclical. Things take a season of favor, then fall to obscurity, only to resurface as popular again.

Please QVC, in this new year and new beginning, take a look at your past and consider revisiting some of those things from it.

chlema · ‎05-22-2010

I agree, but these often asked requests seem to fall on deaf ears.

makena · ‎10-29-2016

Probably because they, like other things do, pass with time. The demand for those items no longer exist. As time passes the younger generations have no desire for the products we did. Even antiques hold very little value. I was recently informed by an individual who runs an auction house for antiques, the younger generation does not want these items for their homes. They are into "shabby chic."

RetRN · ‎10-01-2013

Same with Hummel, Limoges, Betty Ball dolls, and the list goes on. You can't give that stuff away nowadays.

I remember when they used to have Oktoberfest and sold tons of German beer steins, cuckoo clocks, etc. and that doesn't sell anymore.

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

What QVC did in the past really has nothing to do with the modern philosophy of the average MBA executive. I can't even imagine them selling Tiffany Lamps, Hummel, Fenton, or other knickknacks during the present days. Actually I wouldn't want them to do so. I don't think most people are into collecting such things these days and they have no value as collectibles. It has become far more lucrative to sell air time to Dyson, Shark, Wen, My Pillow, Serta, etc., as boring as it is for us.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Kachina624 wrote:
What QVC did in the past really has nothing to do with the modern philosophy of the average MBA executive. I can't even imagine them selling Tiffany Lamps, Hummel, Fenton, or other knickknacks during the present days. Actually I wouldn't want them to do so. I don't think most people are into collecting such things these days and they have no value as collectibles. It has become far more lucrative to sell air time to Dyson, Shark, Wen, My Pillow, Serta, etc., as boring as it is for us.

THe average customer of QVC is not an MBA executive.

But there are quite a number of people on these boards, who are customers, who are complaining about everything from the repetitive programming to the lack of a variety in the format of programming, to the absence of home and decor items, to the lack of new and exciting merchandise across the board.

There are quite a few customers here who have voiced opinions in the past about the lack of 'fun' in the programming, the hard sell,etc.

And I didn't say bring back the exact same merchandise or vendors (Fenton is no longer manufactured for instance), but the category of home related goods is sorely ignored, and what there is of it is the same few brands over and over.

Another network sells Tiffany style lamps, and I'm sure Q would have some interest as well. Q has gone to beating to death the same few product lines, instead of maybe even just a couple of times a year running a lamp show, or a basket show, or a clock show etc.

Variety is what we are seeking, as everything old is new once again, especially if they don't offer it regularly, but bring it in occasionally or seasonally.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@RetRN wrote:
Same with Hummel, Limoges, Betty Ball dolls, and the list goes on. You can't give that stuff away nowadays.
I remember when they used to have Oktoberfest and sold tons of German beer steins, cuckoo clocks, etc. and that doesn't sell anymore.

The fact is that many people will buy things for the home without thought to it's resale value. It isn't about collecting, it is about having and enjoying...finding value in the displaying/using it, not what it's resale value in 10 years would be. If it was all about the 'value' down the road, then why would people pay multiple hundreds of dollars for vacuums that they can never resell at a high price? People buy them to use them, and home decor and furnishings are the same way. Not everyone wants a cheap $99 vacuum, and not everyone wants cheap home furnishings.

QVC doesn't really know if some of the old types of products might have a market today or not, because they haven't had even a presentation of similar items during a home show (let alone an entire hour of any said items), for many many years of some things.

How about a lamp show? Bring in a variety of styles and price ranges. Bring some brass, some Tiffany style, some modern styles, some classic. Everyone needs home lighting, and if they find different and beautiful things, they might be surprised what kind of interest there is.

You can buy sheets anywhere (and most of them much better quality than what they are currently offering) but that doesn't stop them from selling them here.

I feel QVC has limited itself to certain price points because they don't think customers will pay a good price for higher quality things, but I think they are wrong. Can they sell high end pricey things all day every day? No. But they have left behind their customer who will buy nicer and more expensive items. (I used to see more expensive jewelry too, and don't see that much either anymore).

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

@Mominohio. Your lamp show idea is a good one as long as there is a variety. How about small furniture items like footstools, end tables, plant stands, coat trees, bookcases; anything easily shipped?

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

blueluna · ‎11-09-2016

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Mominohio. Your lamp show idea is a good one as long as there is a variety. How about small furniture items like footstools, end tables, plant stands, coat trees, bookcases; anything easily shipped?

I like that idea.

SunValley · ‎04-19-2010

@Mominohio I agree with much of what you have written. Where people will spend insane $ is on beauty, and boy howdy does Q offer the beauty voodoo. Maybe the profit margin on home goods is too low to give it more air time. I would be curious to know how on-air profit stacks up against online profit and how they determine what brands and products get the airtime.