West Chester-based QVC, which helped pioneer shopping from home, is now competing with TikTok, but CEO of two years, David Rawlinson, is not worried, writes Joseph N. DiStefano for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

TikTok and other smartphone-based media are ushering in a new era of live shopping thanks to providing a cheaper way to target millions of consumers. Meanwhile, QVC, the core of Qurate Retail Group, is struggling to cover costs. 

But Rawlinson is optimistic about the future. He noted that QVC has already faced and successfully beaten earlier tech-based competition, such as Amazon’s attempt to start its home-shopping programs. 

He said the company will survive thanks to its “irreplaceable” studios, video and consumer technology that is becoming progressively more efficient. This allows more content at lower cost, along with its existing core of affluent female repeat customers who increase their spending each year. 

“Here we are, with our own ecosystem — a lot of people we have trained, who know hosting and production, programming and retail pricing and merchandising,” said Rawlinson. “That will be fairly hard to replicate. That is the opportunity available to us.” 

Read more about David Rawlinson’s optimism for QVC in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

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