While some might say it is an odd and slightly overpriced union, in actuality, uniting smartphone and TV shopping may be the future.

This was made clear when QVC CEO, Mike George, gave more details on the $2.4 billion purchase of Seattle-based smartphone shopping network Zulily.com during his address to a packed Terrace Ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center during Tuesday’s National Retail Federation Shop.org digital-retail conference. He added more comments afterwards in an interview for philly.com.

While West Chester based QVC has avoided mergers for a long time, George explained this latest move by saying that “we never found businesses we loved as much as our own, with Zulily we fell in love with the leadership, the brand, what they represent.”

Even though its initial rapid growth has started to slow down, the fact that Zulily.com is one of the rare e-commerce companies that has made it to $1.5 billion in annual revenues caught the eye of QVC.

While many saw the union as a culture clash, George made sure to dispel that notion, by saying that “It’s not TV vs. smartphones; it’s both, plus,” as the TV ecosystem is still well and alive through migrating onto new platforms. “We want to be wherever customer is consuming live TV or has cut the cord, cancelling their cable to rely on Internet video – an evolution which has not hurt us.”

“Last Thursday I broadcasted to 20,000 people at both companies,” George proudly announced when asked how West Chester was getting along with Seattle. “What I love about Zulily: we’re different on all these dimensions, East Coast and West Coast, TV-based and smartphone-based, but at the heart we are similar:  two cultures passionate about servicing customers. We are very data-driven. Always pushing for what’s next.”

Interestingly, when asked the consolidation and any possible shake-outs, the QVC boss answered that at this point, there are no plans in that direction. “What’s interesting for us, our mindset has been, the two businesses continue their own destinies. When two slow-growing companies come together, they ferret out costs. This is two growth companies figuring out how to grow faster.”