RWRetailWire
Back to Discussions
DISCUSSION

Did Joan Rivers give home shopping some respect?

Written by Tom Ryan

Home shopping TV continues to be one of retail's quiet giants, and many obits on Joan Rivers gave her credit for being one of the trailblazers of the shopping medium.

Combined merchandise sales of the two leading networks, QVC and HSN, are around $12 billion globally. Home shopping TV appears to attract a niche but devoted audience — about 80 percent female, mainly middle-aged or older — thanks to entertainers, evangelists and storytellers like Ms. Rivers.

Ms. Rivers first sold on QVC in 1990 as an act of desperation. Her husband died of suicide in 1987, the same year her brief late-night show on Fox was cancelled. The show led to a riff with Johnny Carson that derailed her comedy career. In 2004, Ms. Rivers told the Staten Island Advance, "In those days, only dead celebrities went on [QVC]. My career was over. I had bills to pay."

Over the next 24 years, the "Queen Of Mean" became the "Queen Of Home Shopping," selling over $1 billion in jewelry, apparel and beauty products on television, according to QVC.

"We sold over 6,000 products, and there was not a single product she didn't sign off on," David Dangle, Joan Rivers Worldwide CEO, told the Hollywood Reporter.

Suzanne Somers, of "Three's Companys" fame, likewise gets credit for bringing viewers to HSN in its earlier days. But the level of celebrity talent has been significantly upgraded in recent years with QVC making waves for signing Isaac Mizrahi in 2008. HSN was able to lure Jenifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, P. Diddy and other stars since Mindy Grossman took over as CEO in 2006.

While both QVC and HSN are seeing greater growth from e-commerce and mobile, both have argued that they're reaching a broader demographic overall in recent years due to upgraded assortments and efforts to lift the television viewing experience to make it less of an infomercial. Much of the credit goes to their collection of affable, regular hosts that inspire and engage.

With her long QVC career and a selling tagline, "If I can look this fabulous, you can look this fabulous!", Ms. Rivers had a knack for those selling techniques.

In an interview with JCK Magazine, the jewelry trade magazine, in 2006, she complained about the snobbishness she found at many jewelry boutiques. "When you go into a fine jewelry store, you shouldn't be made to feel like a peasant. I hate it when they take each piece back and put it away before they show the next, like I'm some kind of lowdown person. It should be fun! Fun will make you buy, eventually."

Discussion Thread0