Dear kogu,
I've found a number of sources for success stories, failure analyses,
forecasts, and trends in the television-shopping industry.
First, let me point you to an article I enjoyed reading in Slate
recently. Written by Daniel Gross, that online journal's financial
expert, it discusses some of the reasons why QVC grew so quickly since
its inception and has so far been able to outperform even web-based
sales outlets such as Amazon.
"But QVC's advantage also lies in the overall shopping experience. In
the end, watching QVC is a far richer and more satisfying event than
shopping at Amazon.com. Customers can call in and chat with the hosts.
Sales operators offer everyone who calls a friendly voice in the
night. Purchasers are subject to the warmth of human suasion rather
than the cool logic of data and text information. Online shoppers have
to seek out Amazon and then search for items on it."
Slate: T-Commerce Beats E-Commerce
http://slate.com/id/2085320
Now let me refer you to a source of specialized research material. Two
places to find dozens of analytical reports and news articles on
direct-response television (DRTV) sales are BackChannelMedia's
"Newsletter" and "Articles & Commentaries" sections. The latter is
written by Michael Kokernak, the president of BackChannelMedia, and
describes itself as "a great resource for people currently in the
direct response TV industry, home shopping network industry, work for
a home shopping channel, someone creating an infomercial, TV media
buyers, or DRTV marketing companies contemplating creating an
infomercial or starting a home shopping network".
BackChannelMedia: DRTV Articles & Commentaries
http://www.backchannelmedia.com/articles/index.html
To give you an idea of what's on offer, recent articles describe
strategies by America's Collectible Network and The Outdoor Channel,
two specialty broadcasters, to increase their direct-response sales.
"Knoxville, Tenn.- based America's Collectible Network (ACN), while
growing into the fifth largest home shopping network, has quietly
become one of the nation's largest gemstone and jewelry retailers. ...
"The company's strategy was simple - build a solid operating system
and expand from that base. ...
"During its early days, ACN recognized that that the ability to
provide value to customers depended heavily on its choice of vendors.
To this day the company purchases entire inventories of close out
merchandise and then passes that savings on to customers. Today the
product mix is about 70 percent jewelry and 30 percent gemstones."
BackChannelMedia: America's Collectible Network Mines Jewelry Category
http://www.backchannelmedia.com/articles/8-americas-collectible-net.html
"'Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for success of the infomercial is
that each avails package contains midweek and weekend afternoon time
periods that are not adjacent to other infomercials but rather
interwoven into the programming,' explained Jesi Steward, Director of
New Business Development for The Outdoor Channel.
"'It has been a great business relationship', said Bob Walker,
president of Walker's Game Ear, who has been hawking his industry
specific product on the channel for the past three years. 'The bigger
The Outdoor Channel gets, the bigger we get.'
"Walker claims that when his program airs during prime time the
telemarketer will schedule about sixty people to answer the inbound
traffic.
"According to Jesi Steward the network only distributes the paid
programming avails via packages of ten avails and the network will not
customize packages nor make exceptions. In addition The Outdoor
Channel retains approval over all paid programming content."
BackChannelMedia: The Outdoor Channel Keeps Them Indoors
http://www.backchannelmedia.com/articles/10-16-outdoor-channel.html
The "Newsletter" section contains frequent updates, often with links
to external articles, on events in the DRTV and interactive television
(ITV) industries, including sales figures and forecasts. Furthermore,
if you'd like to subscribe to BackChannelMedia's mailing list, you can
write to them at info@backchannelmedia.com naming the email addresses
you'd like to sign up.
BackChannelMedia: Newsletter
http://www.backchannelmedia.com/newsletter/index.html
An article describing HSN's business journey through the years dispels
some myths about the nature of DRTV sales, and looks ahead to the
challenges faced by the industry as a whole.
"HSN became a success by appealing to the women who do most of their
family's buying. ...
"To people who aren't fans of HSN or its competitors, home shopping
can conjure up stereotypes. For example, that companies like HSN sell
little more than cubic zirconium jewelry. But HSN's trademark fake
jewel, Absolute CZ, accounts for only 2 percent of its sales -- the
company offers everything from cookware and home paint to diet foods
and sports memorabilia.
"Another image many people seem to have is that it's small-town
American that sustains HSN. Not so; it's the nation's shopping hotbeds
-- New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco --
that are its to five markets. ...
"'The real future of home shopping is in the combination of television
used in conjunction with an online catalog,' said Christopher Dixon, a
PaineWebber analyst who follows the home shopping industry."
Associated Press: Shop from home
http://www.lmtonline.com/lmtbusiness/archive/072202/jrnl3.pdf
I hope that these resources will give you a clear picture of the DRTV
and ITV sales market.
If you feel that my answer is incomplete or inaccurate in any way, please
post a clarification request so that I have a chance to meet your needs
before you assign a rating.
Regards,
leapinglizard
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