To QVC or not to QVC?

A colleague of mine introduced me to QVC. I remember she was wearing a beautiful perfume on that day at work and I wanted to know where to buy it. She told me that she had bought it from QVC. I looked at her puzzled as at that time, I had not heard of QVC. So she told that it is a shopping channel and that it was the best channel she ever used. A shopping channel! I was rather sceptical of shopping channels and Internet buying in general. She knew this about me of course and promised me that QVC was different. ‘How” I asked, she replied ‘it does what it stands for. It gives the customers Quality products at competitive Value and its Convenience. That’s why its called QVC’. Well I still had some reservations about this QVC channel. I had heard many companies before with very encouraging slogans, which did not live up to their promises. I did decide to give this QVC a go simply because I found out that the perfume she had on was not available anywhere else and I really wanted it. Anyway to cut a long story short I have been a customer of QVC for over seven years now.

So what makes QVC so special?  To me there are a number of things that makes QVC the best shopping channel. Perhaps the best answer is that QVC really delivers, it does exactly what it says on the bottle so to speak. Let’s start with the Q for quality. QVC tests the products before they accept them on their show to ensure that they meet the high standard required by QVC. These products are tested also to ensure that they do what they claim to do. This way the products the products that fail the test, as it where, are rejected by QVC. This testing system benefits both QVC customers as well as the QVC brand in that the customer gets the best quality products and QVC brand is protected from negative publicity, loss of customers and so on. This approach of testing products independently has in a major way been responsible for both the growth of QVC, which has expanded with branches in America and Canada and continues to expand, as well as build customers trust to the brand.

Secondly is the ‘V’ for Value. The way that QVC works is that it strikes a deal with the manufacturers of various products. The catalogue of products featured on QVC is vast ranging from food, beauty, fashion, electronics and so on. This range of products allows the customers a wide range of choice but also increases the number of customers in that there is bound to be something on there for everyone. I know this personal too as I have my partner who like many males doesn’t care much for shopping channel but he too has an account with QVC. He may never order beauty products unlike myself but he does buy car related products and even power tools. The point here is that by increasing choice and having quality products QVC has increased its customer base significantly. In fact it is the biggest shopping channel in the UK. So what has this got to do with value you may wonder? Well a lot in fact. The number of customers and potential customers that view shows on QVC is in millions. This means that manufacturers/companies can sell large quantity of their products in a matter of hours. This fact is very attractive to manufacturers and also gives QVC a very advantageous negotiating tool. QVC is therefore able to negotiate prices of products with the manufacturers to a level lower than usual so that the customers are able to buy the products which they may not have otherwise afford if they purchased them else where. On top of this QVC has its own additional discount for most products for example there is ‘an introductory price’ which is a much lower than the usual lower QVC price for brand new products. They also have ‘anniversary prices’, ‘one time only prices’, seasonal discount as well as instalment payment options for certain products and so on all aimed at giving customers even lower prices. In doing so everyone wins; the customer gets cheaper prices for quality products, QVC gets more customers and keeps the existing ones, the manufacturers sell their products quickly and effectively. This also further increases the number of products on QVC in that as QVC becomes more attractive for manufacturers, competition is created and like everything else, the competition between manufacturers brings in even lower deals for customers and better quality. It is also true that the trust that is built and sustained between QVC and its customers also exists between manufacturers and QVC. For this reason QVC is able to grow if you will, with the manufacturers and thus its customers benefit from the advancements of the products by the manufacturers/companies over time. In fact in some cases not only do the QVC customers become the first ones to use certain products before anyone else (well apart from maybe celebrity customers of the company in question) but also some products are manufactured exclusively for QVC customers! This trust also creates a level of transparency between QVC, customers and manufacturers/companies, which in turn gives QVC a ‘family feel’ factor. The customers and manufacturers/companies feel more intimate. A good example of this is when business owners/designers for certain products come to the shows to present their goods. Some of them come from as far as China! When you watch such shows you often also are shown a video of where and how the specific product is made for example hand made jewellery, you actually get to see the workers making the product by hand. Other examples include QVC customers who visited some of the featured factories where certain products where made while on vacation and shared their experience with the owner/design when he/she is on the show. This level of business trust and intimacy is extremely rare. I for one am yet to see it anywhere else. On top of this QVC also has customer review sections as well as live phone in sessions. These two tools allow customers to rate and share their experiences with other customers and/or potential customers on various products.

Lastly lets look at the ‘C’ for convenience. We all know that in today world convenience is very important. We as customers want to be able to purchase what we want quickly and effectively. Again QVC delivers in this section. QVC is broadcasted live for seventeen hours daily, although it is a 24-hour channel. The remaining 7 hours are usually playback of early shows. This means that customers can shop whenever they like, depending on their individual lifestyles. So if you finish work late you can catch up on the earlier shows and so on. Furthermore to make things even better for customers, QVC is also available on line and on mobile phone. This is my favourite part I must admit simply because it enables me not to miss out on my favourite products when I am out and about. The mobile service also allows customers to receive a reminder text for the show of their interest. The convenience doesn’t end there. There is also convenience in payment methods. Like all other shopping channels QVC accepts major credit and/or debit cards. However unlike most channels QVC also offers a cheque and postal order options. This means that even for those without access to major debit/credit cards, they can still enjoy the benefits of shopping with QVC. As well as that all purchased products from QVC are delivered at the customers chosen address within 7 days. This by the way may not sound like much because most shopping channel provide the same delivery method. However I was very impressed with this during the ‘postal strikes’ a few months ago. Despite the strike QVC arranged an alternative delivery so that customers still received the products as close to the 7 days as possible. I remember this very well because I had run out of my face cream and had just ordered another one from QVC when the strike hit. I was worried that I would have to go without my face cream for over a week or so but to my pleasant surprise my order arrived within 5 days! It’s also worth mentioning that everything sold on QVC comes with a 30-day money back guarantee.

QVC does sometimes get things wrong like all businesses. However what impressed me the most is the way they handle customer complaints. I had emailed QVC to complain about a pair of earrings I purchased which broke on the second day of me wearing them. The customer service I received was immediate and helpful. I had a choice of either returning the pair and receiving my money back or having another pair sent. I returned them and requested for another pair to be sent, which I received a few days later.  I am very impressed with the fact that the quality, value and convenience of shopping with QVC do not end once one has purchased the products. I am impressed that these same values are applied in all service sections of QVC.

I could literally go on and on and on about QVC but I won’t. I must say that to me and many others friends, relatives and colleague that I have introduced (and continue to introduce) to QVC, this channel is without a shadow of doubt the best shopping channel so far.  Long live QVC!