TV shopping channel QVC began broadcasting in the US in November 1986 and seven years later launched in the UK. Since then, the now multimedia retailer has expanded into Germany, Japan, Italy and China. Cosmetic News Weekly talks to Jo Lee, Buying Director – Beauty and Jewellery for QVC UK about the role of beauty in QVC and the secret to its success.
How important is beauty to QVC?Beauty as a category is incredibly important to QVC, especially in the UK, where we have by far the highest mix of beauty. It makes up 35%-36% of the overall business, and it’s a premium business, which we’re very proud of. We’re not looking to increase our beauty mix. What we want to do is concentrate on the areas of beauty that we do best, nurturing premium brands and being educators about beauty.
How do you select the products?We are inundated every day with suppliers and brands that want to work with us. Our queue is endless. Our selection process is: is it premium? does it deliver? can this brand or supplier offer something that is different to the market, exclusive to us and has a point of difference? is it advanced technology that is a rarity to some degree on the high street? We like quirky, different but deliverable. Of our more well-known brands, Elemis is our biggest seller, along with Decléor and L’Occitane. Our most popular brands, however, tend to dip in and out because we’re constantly bringing new entrepreneurial brands to the viewer.
Not yet a Subscriber?
This is a small extract of the full article which is available ONLY to premium content subscribers. Click below to get premium content on Cosmetics Business.
Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in here.