I started watching Q when I was up in the middle of the night with my younger son (he's now 28, so that tells you I'm a real veteran). What I found so appealing then, and what seems to be missing now, was twofold. One, the company did their best to replicate the original Avon lady concept -- where a neighborhood friend would knock on your door with her samples and catalogs, you'd visit over coffee, try out some of the samples and buy yourself a little something special. The hosts made every effort to relate to the viewer as though they were our neighbors. It was pleasant and made you feel comfortable with them and willing to beliee what they were telling you. Good for sales, good for the viewer. Two, considerable effort was made to have a wide variety of product available, and products you couldn't easily find for yourself - regional specialities, artisanal products, interesting and innovative items from little start-up companies. You could...gasp... learn something when you watched. Sure not every item worked well with a tv audience, and some things you saw once or twice and never again. But many were a hit. And new things were constantly being brought in to replace the ones who didn't do well.
Granted, much time has passed and shopping is much different now. We even buy Avon online now and Amazon can get you almost anything your heart desires from anywhere in the world. But that's no reason for Q to stagnate. You can still engage the viewers and keep them from surfing the web. On television you, can demonstrate the item, the shopper can get a really good look at the item, inside and out, you can judge size, shape, color, etc. by seeing it handled and displayed against the human form. If they are trained right, the presenters and hosts can anticipate your possible questions and answer them on the spot. When they've interested the viewer, make the purchasing decision as easy as possible. Offer more installment payments, allow combined shipping on similar items. Entice the customer to purchase, don't throw up impediments like super high shipping. Charge a little more on the base price if you must. People will shell out a few more dollars in many cases because they trust your return policy. For instance, I've willingly paid a little more for certain items at Costco for years because their return policy and customer service was so stellar. I was willing to pay a bit more upfront, knowing if there was an issue they'd take good care of me.
But the worst and most egregious thing you've done recently is use the holiday season as a vehicle to clean out your warehouse with a short list of stale products, last year's models, and old inventory 'turkeys' at little to no discount and with little to no shopper incentives.
I'd love to see a Q that went toe-to-toe with the other electronic and online retailers, offering good deals, reasonable shipping, expert customer service (no 'too many returns' letters after urging customers to return anything they didn't like), cutting edge products, and fewer things I can buy at the grocery store or the drugstore's 'as seen on tv' shelf.
Blogs & Forums
