ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Nov. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Qurate Retail,
Inc., a world-leading video and digital retailer, has announced new
digital investments designed to create immersive video commerce
experiences on all platforms that resonate with consumers across
generations.
Mike George, President and CEO,
Qurate Retail, Inc., announced the investments at the company's
recent Investor Day in New York
City. The investments align with five priorities that Qurate
Retail is pursuing to continue to deepen the appeal of QVC and HSN
among today's consumers:
- Be the destination for product discovery.
- Inspire shopping journeys spanning all media platforms
customers use.
- Make digital marketing a powerhouse demand driver.
- Extend the conversation through the power of social media.
- Enhance the service experience.
"The soul of the shopper, over time and across generations,
hasn't really changed," said George. "Shopping is still about
discovering great products, at great values, with great stories.
It's joyful, inspiring and built on trust. It lifts people up,
helps them solve old problems in new ways, makes their lives
easier, and connects them to the wider world. This is what we do,
and this is why we have so many opportunities to evolve and grow in
today's rapidly changing retail and media landscape."
George also announced a further increase in expected cost
synergies from the HSNi acquisition, beyond the expectations
announced in October. Qurate Retail believes it can reduce cost by
another $50-55 million through a
major new program to increase merchandise sourcing effectiveness.
The company now expects total efficiencies to approach $400 million by 2022, building a powerful war
chest to either reinvest in growth or add to operating income.
Qurate Retail generated $14
billion in global revenue in FY 2017 and is #1 in video
commerce, #3 in ecommerce in North
America, and #3 in mobile commerce in the U.S.1
The company comprises seven leading retail brands: QVC, HSN,
zulily, Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet
Hill and Grandin Road.
Qurate Retail's video commerce business includes QVC and HSN,
which together generated more than $11
billion in global revenue in FY 2017 and reach over 375
million homes.2 The company recently announced several
projects to continue to expand engagement with QVC and HSN content
on digital platforms and shared a survey on the role of video in
purchase decisions.
Here is a closer look at George's comments on Qurate Retail's
five priorities:
Be the destination for product discovery
"Our business model starts with being great product curators,"
George said. "We're committed to bringing our customers more
discoveries, increasing product differentiation, driving strong
values, and engaging customers of all generations."
Qurate Retail is investing in an expanded digital store, adding
180 new digital-only brands across HSN and QVC over the past few
months and entering new categories, such as baby, outdoor and
tabletop. Year-to-date3, the company has hired over 25
people to help drive this effort. In addition, more brands with
strong cross-generational appeal are launching first on
digital.
Qurate Retail also is launching Qurate D3 (for
Discovery, Design, and Development), an expanded function to find
or develop exclusive product lines around the world.
Inspire shopping journeys spanning all media platforms
customers use
"The explosion of digital media creates enormous opportunities
for us to access, engage, and inspire consumers of all generations,
over her video platforms of choice, with the right content, at the
right time," George said. "We have a strong advantage over other
retailers or content programmers: We own all of our content, our
incremental cost to create content is low, and we already have
significant experience distributing content across emerging and
other digital platforms."
Qurate Retail continues to expand viewership across media
platforms. In the U.S., TV viewership for QVC and QVC2 rose 5%
year-to-date4. HSN and QVC continue to increase their
presence on traditional TV platforms. In addition, the brands are
assessing how to optimize the positioning, programming, and
scheduling of the five U.S. networks (QVC, QVC2, HSN, HSN2 and
Beauty iQ) to appeal to the broadest range of consumers and provide
maximum choice.
Viewership on new media platforms is also growing. From Q3 2017
to Q3 2018, minutes viewed via QVC US OTT platforms (Amazon, Apple,
Roku), Facebook Live5 pages and digital platforms rose
by more than 75%, while minutes viewed via the QVC US YouTube page
doubled.
Early next year, Qurate Retail will build on its mobile
leadership by launching a new Watch App, designed to be the daily
discovery destination for today's mobile consumer, with easy access
to live shows, product videos and episodic content. By liking
videos, users will be able to create their own playlists, and a
click on a video will bring up product details and the ability to
purchase.
In addition:
- The next generation of HSN's proprietary Shop by Remote app is
rolling out, and QVC began deploying the app earlier this
month as well.
- QVC is expanding its OTT apps, including the October 2018 launch on Amazon Fire and the
June 2018 launch of a new OTT service
in Germany.
Make digital marketing a powerhouse demand driver
"We are rapidly scaling our digital marketing to generate
demand, showcasing our best items, complementing the power of our
TV distribution, and driving new generations of customers to our
new media platforms," George said.
Qurate Retail is building an in-house marketing agency to
support QVC and HSN, drawing top talent from digital marketing
leaders. The team is leveraging machine learning tools from zulily
to create and deploy advertising intraday to maximum effect.
Digitally-driven sales6 are growing, driven in part
by digital marketing. Year-to-date3, sales for items
that are promoted only via QVC's digital platforms rose 11%, and
sales for items that had not been featured on-air in the prior 24
hours rose 7%.
Extend the conversation through the power of social
media
"Social platforms enable us to reach and engage new consumers,
while also deepening the engagement of our best customers by
fostering powerful viral communities," George said.
Qurate Retail has built a network of influencers who can amplify
HSN or QVC products and platforms with their followers. In
addition, Qurate Retail has launched three social marketplaces –
Ellie Sugar and Fuss
Beauty in the U.S. and TILI (Try It Love It) in the U.K.
– designed to reach beauty shoppers who may not be aware of the
curated products and engaging experiences offered by HSN and QVC.
The company also has launched its first skill on the Alexa
platform, enabling users to watch or listen to HSN live and obtain
information about HSN's broadcast and products. By early 2019,
users will be able to order products and check shipping updates and
other account details, all via voice.
Enhance the service experience
"We recently announced a multiyear plan to reduce delivery times
by two days and increase package consolidation by integrating our
HSN and QVC US fulfillment networks," George said. "This is just
one example of how we are investing to ensure that our service
promise stays among the best."
The plan to integrate the fulfillment networks was announced in
October. The first phase includes opening a new fulfillment center
in Bethlehem, PA in 2019, as well
as anticipated closures of fulfillment centers in Lancaster, PA, Roanoke, VA, and Greeneville, TN in 2020. Additionally, Qurate
Retail will evolve toward a leased vs. owned model for many of its
fulfillment facilities to increase flexibility and reduce longer
term capital requirements.
Qurate Retail's multiplatform approach is helping the company
expand its customer base. Over the past 12 months3, new
customer counts for QVC US rose 4%, with 83% of new customers
coming through digital platforms. QVC US also saw a meaningful
shift among new customers to customers who are 18-44 years old.
Overall, the QVC US customer base is up 2%
year-to-date3, with strong and stable customer
retention.
To view a replay of Qurate Retail's Investor Day, including
Mike George's presentation, visit
http://ir.qurateretail.com/events.cfm.
- Ecommerce and mobile rankings: among multicategory
retailers, according to Internet Retailer.
- Includes QVC's JV in China.
- To September 2018.
- To September 2018. Source:
Comscore. QVC daily share is the percent of total TV
universe.
- Q3 2017 data from July 2017
launch date.
- Based on demand sales. Does not include waitlist and
subsequent auto-delivery, which are 6% of total sales.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995, including, without limitation, statements about
initiatives regarding Qurate Retail and the HSN and QVC
businesses (the "initiatives"), the timing of the implementation of
the initiatives, and expected benefits resulting from the
initiatives, including the amount and timing of expected
synergy benefits. These forward-looking statements involve many
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such statements,
including, without limitation, general market conditions. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press
release, and each of Qurate Retail, Inc. ("QRI")
and QVC, Inc. ("QVC") expressly disclaim any obligations
or undertakings to disseminate any updates or revisions to any
forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in
QRI's or QVC's expectations with regard thereto or any change in
events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is
based. Please refer to the publicly filed documents of QRI and QVC,
including each of their most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q for
additional information about QRI and QVC, respectively, and about
the risks and uncertainties related to each of QRI's and QVC's
business which may affect the statements made in this press
release.
About Qurate Retail, Inc.
Qurate Retail, Inc. (NASDAQ: QRTEA, QRTEB) is comprised of seven
leading retail brands – QVC, HSN, zulily, Ballard Designs,
Frontgate, Garnet Hill and Grandin
Road (collectively, "Qurate Retail Group") – all dedicated to
providing a "third way to shop," beyond transactional ecommerce or
traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Globally, Qurate Retail Group
is #1 in video commerce, reaching over 375 million homes worldwide
via 16 television networks and multiple ecommerce sites, social
pages, mobile apps, print catalogs, and in-store destinations, and
is #3 in ecommerce in North
America and #3 in mobile commerce in the U.S. Qurate Retail,
Inc. also holds minority interests in ILG and FTD as well as
various green energy investments.
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SOURCE Qurate Retail, Inc.