topic Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC. in Community Chat

Interesting new feature article about QVC.

gardensla — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:59:27 GMT

Television and online shopping giant QVC (QVCA) is launching in its seventh country today: France. The company made $8.8 billion in revenue last year and is in more than 300 million homes around the world.

But QVC had humble beginnings and was late to the game when it launched in 1986 following a spate of similar businesses into the space. Since then it has left the rest in the dust now competing instead with the likes of retail giants like Nordstrom (JWN), Sephora, and increasingly, Amazon (AMZN).

“We find that we can compete against those retailers with a unique experience that's more about the connection, the inspiration, the discovery process,” says CEO Mike George, adding, “We really don't, at the end of the day, care about getting the next sale from you...if we over-hype a product, you get it home and you're disappointed with it, we're gonna lose a lifetime customer.

Instead the company focuses on ways for people to use the products it sells and hopes that will spur sales to the very people it thinks would enjoy the item.

One set of consumers they aren’t targeting? Millennials. While just about every other business is obsessed with appealing to the under 30 set, QVC acknowledges that Millennials simply aren’t their demographic

“What we find is that people tend to, kind of, acquire QVC typically when they move into their 30s,” George says. “So you start to see...our business start to pick up with folks of that age, probably continuing into their forties and fifties.”

Ken O’Brien is the company’s Senior Vice President Merchandising and is the man in charge of finding the products those QVC customers want. “We're all always looking for really relevant product,” he says, “product that's got a really great story often with a great storyteller, an inventor or an entrepreneur that brings us something that's really relevant.”

One such product is a portable power device to recharge your phone called Halo. Walk into any electronics store and you can find several different brands that all do the same thing. But QVC’s audience is vast and apparently different from the consumers that frequent those stores - so much so that Halo broke the one day QVC sales record in 2012.

“We sold 305,000 units in one day at QVC,” says Gerrold Miller, Halo founder and CEO. “And then we came back the next year-- in 2013 and we sold 380,000 sets of two Halos in one day.”

In fact, the small startup has had so much success Miller estimates they do 90% of their business with QVC.

And while technology like Halo sells well on QVC it’s new technology behind the scenes that has helped keep the company so dominant.

When it launched in 1986, Mark Zuckerberg was just getting out of diapers and Apple was three years away from releasing its first portable computer.

QVC was entirely dependent on the telephone for orders and connecting with customers on air. While both are still a part of the QVC experience Facebook, Twitter and Instagram bring customers closer to the product and the QVC hosts while online and mobile purchasing has changed the game.

Online sales are now 47% of the companies business here in the U.S. and mobile orders account for 52% of that. But expanding online means having to compete with the king of the space - Amazon. That is something Alex Miller, QVC’s Senior Vice President Digital Commerce isn’t concerned with.

“Our target market are customers who look at shopping as entertainment,” he told us. “So as I would look at ESPN as a way to consume sport content and every aspect of it. Our customers come to us to engage in shopping in more of an entertainment format. And so, I encourage our team to stay focused on where we have our strength which is in creating entertainment and social interactions around the shopping experience.”

But QVC is still careful not to depart too radically from the medium that put it on the map.

“The rise of mobile has given us an enormous platform to connect with people that probably had not engaged with us in the past.” CEO Mike George says. “But TV is relevant. TV is still at the foundation of what we do. Because what we can do with that unique TV asset that no other retailer has, is to reach into 300 million homes around the world and tell really engaging stories.”

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

vicalynn — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:07:27 GMT

I guess this means more family stories and chit chatting among the hosts/vendors on social stuff vs detail information on the items being presented.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

RedHeadedWench — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:22:03 GMT

@lynnsy wrote:
“Our target market are customers who look at shopping as entertainment,” he told us. “So as I would look at ESPN as a way to consume sport content and every aspect of it. Our customers come to us to engage in shopping in more of an entertainment format. And so, I encourage our team to stay focused on where we have our strength which is in creating entertainment and social interactions around the shopping experience.”

I guess this means more family stories and chit chatting among the hosts/vendors on social stuff vs detail information on the items being presented.

See, and that's what I cannot stand during a presentation. I really don't care that someone's daughter's best friends cousin has one in her home and she loves it.

I shop...to shop. It's not a sport, it's not entertainment. And no, I'm not liking your INSERTYOURNAMEHEREQVC's Facebook page.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

circles — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:22:35 GMT

There are a few posters...who say that the Q. is not here to entertain us...but to sell....I guess that article disputes that theory...

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

brii — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:27:42 GMT

The whole entertainment and social media thing is a huge turn off to me.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

Ibby114 — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:32:21 GMT

I always thought the over abundance of chit chat defelcted the fact that you were actually shopping - it gives a sense of 'girls day out'.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

luv-the-Q — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:32:00 GMT

Bigger is not always better. They should work on improving the service in the countries they are already in. It's like my cell phone! I don't want to take pictures, email, shop, track my steps or anything else. I just want a good signal so I can use the dang phone!

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

Ibby114 — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:33:51 GMT

@brii wrote:
The whole entertainment and social media thing is a huge turn off to me.

Social media is just another avenue of promotion.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

Ibby114 — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:34:59 GMT

@circles wrote:
There are a few posters...who say that the Q. is not here to entertain us...but to sell....I guess that article disputes that theory...

The underlying truth is that they're here to entertain us AND to sell!

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

Vivian — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:36:43 GMT

Mon Dieu! France? I have been to France 21 times. I can't imagine Parisian women shopping at QVC, BUT in the provinces it could be a success. Americans think of France as fashionable Paris but France is far more than Paris. There are many regions where shopping opportunities are limited. It just might work.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

wildcat fan — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:44:01 GMT

Tres bien!

I was confused by that part where it says QVC is not targeting millennials. If they aren't trying to appeal to that demographic, seems like they'd ditch a few of those younger ditzy hosts.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

Lipstickdiva — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:02:01 GMT

@Ibby114 wrote:
@circles wrote:
There are a few posters...who say that the Q. is not here to entertain us...but to sell....I guess that article disputes that theory...
The underlying truth is that they're here to entertain us AND to sell!

This is how I feel. Who is going to watch if there isn't at least a small amount of entertainment to the shows? This is why I cannot and do not watch the channels that just have spinning tables of jewelry where you never see the host and they sound as if they are broadcasting from someone's garage. You can hear all the background noise and people answering the phones.

There are also certain hosts that bore me to tears and even if they are presenting something I'm interested in, I just cannot bring myself to watch.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

sunshine45 — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:07:08 GMT

here is the website to explore......

https://www.qvc.fr/

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

SoX — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:23:03 GMT

@brii wrote:
The whole entertainment and social media thing is a huge turn off to me.

That's why I take my shopping dollars elsewhere ... I cannot imagine spending hours on end watching presentations of products, vendors, and salespeople ... who does that?

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

gardensla — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:25:44 GMT

@SoX wrote:
@brii wrote:
The whole entertainment and social media thing is a huge turn off to me.

That's why I take my shopping dollars elsewhere ... I cannot imagine spending hours on end watching presentations of products, vendors, and salespeople ... who does that?

Back when QVC was new to me, I did have the channel on for several hours a day. I think over time, the television experience begins to wear less well. I don't watch at all these day except for very specific programs that interest me, but I still shop here.

Guessing its the revolving door of new customers or those who have it on due to habit who are watching the actual channel?

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

circles — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:26:26 GMT

Interesting site, sunshine....thanks for the link....

Just an aside....turning the volume louder...didn't make me fluent in their language...lol....

I did like those pants they were showing...the ones with the two front zippers...

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

sunshine45 — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:26:28 GMT

brii wrote:
The whole entertainment and social media thing is a huge turn off to me.

hi brii.....LOL, i am just the opposite. i enjoy the "entertainment" and the social media aspect, otherwise i would probably not have it on at all (i would just browse online).

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

SoX — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:31:02 GMT

@gardensla wrote:
@SoX wrote:
@brii wrote:
The whole entertainment and social media thing is a huge turn off to me.

That's why I take my shopping dollars elsewhere ... I cannot imagine spending hours on end watching presentations of products, vendors, and salespeople ... who does that?

Back when QVC was new to me, I did have the channel on for several hours a day. I think over time, the television experience begins to wear less well. I don't watch at all these day except for very specific programs that interest me, but I still shop here.

Guessing its the revolving door of new customers or those who have it on due to habit who are watching the actual channel?

Yeah, we have one specific guy in mind ... otherwise ... I wouldn't care that Who's on first, What's on second, and I Don't Know is on third.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

Lipstickdiva — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:31:36 GMT

@SoX wrote:
@brii wrote:
The whole entertainment and social media thing is a huge turn off to me.

That's why I take my shopping dollars elsewhere ... I cannot imagine spending hours on end watching presentations of products, vendors, and salespeople ... who does that?

I don't know that they are necessarily talking about people sitting and watching hours upon hours of presentations, etc.

I took it to mean when people do watch, they want to be entertained. That's how I am. I don't watch all that much but when I do watch, I have to like the person presenting or I'll just tune out.

Judging by all the threads about the hosts and what they wear, how they act, how they speak, etc., I think a lot of people feel the same way.

Re: Interesting new feature article about QVC.

SoX — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:36:13 GMT

@Lipstickdiva ...

I guess I'm not into that kind of "entertainment." There are just so many hours of the day and I never can quite catch up on all the really good to great shows out there. QVC is not even on my radar.