Television’s Big Distractions, Not Amazon, Hand QVC Rare Drop in Sales

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Photo of QVC CEO Mike George in the studio in West Chester courtesy of Kyle Grantham, The Wall Street Journal.

QVC LogoQVC just aired its first quarterly drop in U.S. sales this decade, but the fingers are pointing to a handful of massive television distractions that roll around just once every four years, not toward e-commerce’s elephant in the room, Amazon.

CEO Mike George attributes the third-quarter drop of six percent to television coverage of the intense presidential election and the summer Olympics.

Furthermore, there was a surge in department store promotions, a fallout from an investigation into haircare brand Wen, and a slump in new product launches by well-known brands, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal by Paul Ziobro.

“I never discount Amazon on anything, but I don’t think they’re trying to do what we do,” George said.

In fact, the customer base of the two e-commerce giants overlap considerably. The difference is that shoppers know what they want when they go to Amazon and want to know what to get when they tune in to QVC.

“We’re going to try to find 120-140 items every day where we think we can tell compelling stories and inspire you to consider it,” George said.

That curation adds value to QVC’s customers, the vast majority of whom are home-owning women over 35.

Read more about QVC’s drop in sales and the threat Amazon poses in The Wall Street Journal here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of the West Chester-based home shopping network here.

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