QVC Plans Broader Presence on Internet (AP)

NEW YORK - QVC, the home shopping network, isn't satisfied with just being on TV 24 hours a day. It wants to be everywhere customers are, and plans to offer shopping videos on Internet portal sites and eventually wants to sell goods on mobile phones.

"We want to be ready. We are going to try a lot of things," said Michael A. George, president and CEO of QVC, in an interview this week. "We're looking to see what resonates with consumers."

QVC, which has seven million active customers domestically and introduces 1,600 products weekly, is set to offer video-on demand content on various portal sites by this summer. George declined to give more specifics.

Next year, he said QVC will relaunch its Web site, QVC.com, with a new design and broadband application that will make its live shopping footage more prominent on the site. Currently, QVC.com has a link that directs shoppers to a small, fuzzy image of the live TV show.

As part of its strategy, QVC will be offering in early June a one-hour shopping show on its site, selling Dell Inc.'s computers — $1,699 notebooks and $1,499 desktop versions. The show will be exclusive to QVC.com. George calls it a "25th hour of airtime."

George also declined to give more details about the company's plans to sell on consumers' cell phones in the United States, but he noted the service is offered in Japan and is doing well.

Melding its TV presence with its imprint on the Internet is expected to be a key driver of growth and profits at the West Chester, Pa.-based shopping network, which is owned by Liberty Media Corp.

For the year ended Dec. 31, QVC had an operating profit of $1.4 billion on revenue of $6.5 billion compared an operating profit of $1.2 billion on revenue of $5.7 billion in the year-ago period. For the first quarter, Liberty Media reported QVC's operating profit rose 6 percent to $212 million on a 7 percent rise in revenue to $1.56 billion.

Another growth avenue for QVC will be expanding its proprietary brands, while acquiring labels with the goal of expanding sales through TV exposure. Among some of QVC's top revenue-generating home-grown brands are Northern Nights, which offer sheets and other bedding and Cook's Essentials, a cookware line.

George said there's no timetable for acquiring brands, but QVC has a unique opportunity to be in the acquisition game as its merchandising team reviews hundreds of suppliers a year.

Meanwhile, QVC plans to reach out to more designer names. Clothing and accessories designer Michael Kors made his debut last October on the shopping channel, selling out of 4,200 handbags, shoes and other accessories in 14 minutes. Kors is expected to do at least one appearance this year. Dana Buchman, whose fashion label is sold in upscale department stores, will be making her first appearance on QVC this year, George said.

"We can really romance a brand," George said.

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