We can’t ignore what’s happening in the health space today. Customers are still going to want their hamburgers, hotdogs, ribs, and everything else, but there’s a growing group of people who want to make changes by eating healthier one day at a time. In that regard, there is a need for innovation and for healthier food products to taste delicious. On today’s show, Diane Rubizhevsky joins Elliot Begoun to talk about the whole food space at QVC and how one can get into the platform. Diane is an independent manufacturer’s rep with a passion for improving health by finding innovative companies that provide healthier food options that taste delicious at affordable prices using only clean natural plant-based ingredients.

—

Listen to the podcast here

The QVC Whole Food Space With Diane Rubizhevsky

I want to start by giving Diane an opportunity to introduce herself. I’m excited to have this conversation. It would open some eyes and getting some of you to think differently about the opportunity that QVC could potentially play in the growth and discovery of your brand. Diane, if you would do a short introduction and then we’ll get going.

My name is Diane Rubizhevsky. I am an independent manufacturer’s rep or in the food industry broker with a passion for health and wellness. For this, my mission is to help people improve their health without changing their lifestyles, by finding innovative companies that might provide better options than what somebody doesn’t even know about or knows that existed. You’d be surprised at how thirsty the audience is for this type of product.

Tell us a little bit about how you got into this space. Why do you believe that this is something that brands in the natural products industry should be considering as part of their discovery and being a part of their channel strategy quite frankly?

I have been an independent manufacturer’s rep for many years. I’ve been selling to QVC particularly for over 25 years. I wasn’t even originally in the space, but due to my changes within my health and my way of eating, I am plant-based. I started exploring the whole food space at QVC and with all the changes that have gone on in the past few years, I went to them with a program and I said, “You can’t ignore what’s happening anymore in the healthy space. Your customers are still going to want their hamburgers, hotdogs, ribs and everything else, but there’s a group of people out there that might want to make a little change by eating one thing that’s healthier one day at a time.” They said to me, “We need innovation. We need products to taste delicious. We need them to be a little bit different than what they have.” That got me excited. We started on a journey with them a little over in 2019 and introducing new products. It’s important in our space, particularly with COVID-19, that brands find unique ways to get their messages to the public.

We were talking before about the fact that discovery had been hard for years and it had been monetized, but it’s only gotten harder and more unlikely given what’s happened with COVID-19. People are going into the grocery store out of necessity, not out of pleasure, treasure hunting is something they’re not doing. They’re getting queued up, putting a mask on, going in with their lists, getting 1 or 2 weeks’ worth of groceries and then leaving. That does not lend itself well for them finding new products and new solutions yet or at a time when people are desperate for those things. How do you see that being played by QVC as brands rethink that go-to-market strategy?

Marketing and sales through television combines the best of retail, media, and social. It makes an extraordinary experience for the home shopper. QVC is just not on TV. They’re on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. They’re taking advantage of all the social that’s out there. Where we used to think of who that QVC shopper is. Yes, that customer is still there, but there are new people coming because as the hosts also get younger, they’re on their Instagram and Facebook pages, chatting things up, talking about discovery, talking about new products. I think that’s what we’re all looking for. I’ve discovered many things on Instagram. Who would have thought? It’s not a cable TV shopping experience anymore. There are in 380 million almost worldwide be at fifteen television networks, but people aren’t necessarily on cable. QVC has their own app. You download the app on your TV and you’re flipping on when you want. It is a whole new way of discovering products.

Jared has a question and it dovetails well into this whole conversation, which is how relevant is QVC, especially to the natural products consumer and in terms of demographics? He’s wondering if you have any insight as to who the QVC shoppers are in terms of age, income levels and geographic location. Is there any data of that age of who’s interacting with it on the online side versus the TV side? Is there a different audience between the two?

The QVC audience is soccer moms and their moms. Traditionally, it’s 45 and above. Sixty and above is still their core, but they have been attracting younger audiences. What’s interesting about the natural products question is that when I went there with the idea of, “Let’s introduce more plant-based foods, healthy foods,” they love the idea because there wasn’t too much of that yet. There was an hour show in January 2020, a plant-based show for the first time ever. Seven of the eight products are sold out. What was interesting during that time is they have what is called Threads, where the customers are talking. There were literally hundreds of responses to the customers to each other.

“We’re so glad this is finally on QVC.” “We didn’t understand what this meant and what these products are.” “How our chickpeas good for you?” “How are certain things better for you than not?” They attracted that customer and it’s interesting for them. All the shows that they’ve had that are around healthier foods or natural foods are doing well. They’re not going to not stop buying their hamburgers, their hot dogs and their ribs. Those are comfort foods. Big, thick, macaroni and cheese trays. You can’t get everybody to switch, but you can get them to be a little bit more aware that maybe there are things that will make them feel better, or if you’re having your families over and you want to serve a better chip or you want to serve a better sauce, or do you want to serve something like that? That customer was there. It’s been very surprising to them.

That’s how we met, through Matthew Parry of The Good Crisp Company. What does a brand need to be ready to do and how do they know if they’re right for QVC?

The income is a little bit above average. It’s above $75,000. It’s not middle America like most people think. It’s very Metropolitan, California, Texas, New York, and Chicago. That was very surprising to a lot of people to find out how cosmopolitan the audience is. When you look at some of the other brands, they have on their like skincare brands, those are popular national brands that are sold mostly in the cosmopolitan areas. That is who their customer is. They do have extra income that they can buy new products. If you have the right product, I would say that’s one of the things that I do. I like to curate the companies. I might get a list of companies or one of the companies I’m working with may refer another company. I’ll say, “That’s a little bit too narrow.” They’re not ready to break out into some of these niche products yet.

For instance, plant-based cheeses, that’s still a little bit niche for them. By 2021, something like that will work. They don’t want things that are too available on a supermarket shelf. If you have peanut butter or nut butter, it’s got to have a different story because she can go to the grocery store and buy that. She doesn’t care what brand it is. She’s going to grab it and go. You do need a little bit of a unique story. That’s what was great about Matt, his story of Good Crisp Company, it’s unique. He developed something that’s a lot better for you than the leading brand out there, which I won’t name. They like that uniqueness about that. The fact that he has a story and he developed that for his kids. I have another product like that too.

Let’s say, you curated and you feel that a particular brand has legs on QVC. It’s right for the QVC shopper. As a brand owner, as a founder, as a team, what do you need to be aware of to engage QVC effectively in terms of volume and the economics of it? Is it a profit maker? It would be a question for most brands.

I would say not a lot. A couple of the brands that I have, they’re doing well. One brand in particular looked at it strictly as a marketing budget. I said to him, “I do not want you to lose money.” He said, “No, I won’t go on if I lose the money, but I’m not going to get rich doing this.” As his line develops and other parts of his brand develop, then we can look to see if he could make a little bit more money. In case people don’t know what QVC stands for, it’s Quality, Value and Convenience. The value is a very big part of what they look for.

One of the challenges, and the buyers are very good at looking at all the details of everywhere else that this is sold, is that QVC wants to show the best value of anyone else including Amazon not by a lot, just a little bit, but enough that it’s going to make that customer want to buy from QVC and not go shopping somewhere else. What it also does and what a lot of brands like is that she may buy it on QVC the first time or the second time, and then ran out, forgot to buy more, but is in the local store and there’s the brand. She picks up and says, “I know about this. I’m going to buy this.” For a lot of brands, it helped launch the awareness in the retail segment.

Here’s a question from Sarah, “Which categories (specifically in health and wellness) have you found played best in QVC?”

I’m focusing on food, but they do have a pretty robust business with beauty and the natural brands. It’s got to tell a story because there are a few on there and I invite everybody. I’m the broker, but go on QVC.com and type in whatever you might be looking for and see if it’s there. Let’s say you are looking for shampoo, you can type in a shampoo and you can find out how many other natural brands are there. What are their stories? How is yours unique and different? That’s a big necessity. You need to have a story. You need to be unique and be a little bit different.

I’ll add to Sarah’s question things like immunity and health. Are the QVC shoppers becoming more astute, more aware of that?

Yes. Health and wellness, vitamins, or supplements, I didn’t get into. That I will say is a very challenging category. They do have someone who had a brand at HSN. QVC Body sent us out called Qurate Retail Group. It’s HSN, QVC, Zulily and a bunch of other catalogs. With that success at HSN came a gentleman who had a big vitamin line. It’s tough to get in there with vitamins. They are still not allowing CBD products until it’s legal in every state. There are some pain products that I’ve seen and been asking the buyers about that.

Within natural products, food and beverage particularly, what seems to do better? Snacks, beverages, center of the plate, edible supplements, immunity shots?

Immunity shots haven’t done that well. I’ve seen some of them on and they’ve been mediocre. I would say that, if you can find a great food, like a main course, burger or chickpeas product or an essential tomato sauce, which is one of the products I have on, and then snacks. Snacks are a big part of it and it has to be different. What’s the story with the snack? Matt has a different story about his snack. Beverages are tough. They sell a lot of wine. The functional beverages are still in the tough category. I don’t think they’re ready for that yet in 2020.

It sounds like products that are iterative steps further down the natural product space, but not the massive steps. Using The Good Crisp analogy, it’s better for your snack that people understand because there’s an anchor and it’s an iterative step forward. Whereas, maybe something more niche, something like Rhythm Superfoods, Kale Chips, or something like that probably wouldn’t resonate as much with the QVC shopper. It needs to be closer to the conventional anchor would you say?

Kale Chips are out there. If it had a different story would be great. In a category like that, the tough part is going to be a price point because they’re expensive to me. How are you going to give that customer a value? Is she going to see that you’ve got a bag of kale chips and there’s as much kale on it? Is she going to be happy that she paid X amount for that bag? We have to think about the value compared to what you’re getting as well.

This is a good question that follows up from West with Snooze. “What are the costs and fees associated with introducing a new product on the QVC platform and how much air time do you receive? What’s the length of a campaign, help lessen all the others who will be reading this understand the economics or the process of it better if you would?”

Every product gets between every new product, gets between 6 to 8 minutes of air time. That’s part of your claim to fame, whether you going to make it or you don’t. In the natural food product category, I’m more on health and wellness. Everything on QVC is based on dollars per minute. When you think about a store, it’s based on dollars per square foot. If most orders in this new food category are about $65,000 at retail. That’s the initial prep. That could be depending on the price of your item, anywhere from 1,200 to 2,000 units, and they would want you to have that ready to go when you went on the air. With food, it is all dropped ship. You have to be able to drop ship or use a provider that can drop ship for you. You ship on their account and you’re not paying for shipping.

There are certain deductions involved. It doesn’t cost you anything to go on the air. They’re not charging you to go on the air. It’s whatever the cost is for you to do business there in terms of your product profit. There are lots of little nuances. I’m not sure if you want to go through them, because they do change. I have a sheet that, if somebody’s interested, we can talk about that. I can send them the sheet. I don’t know what the costs are that are involved. There’s a 5% buyer’s hold for return on food products. There are other little nuances that they have built into the system that we absolutely make somebody aware of. We give somebody all the numbers before we go in there because you’ve got to find out, “Is this worth it for you or not?”

Getting back to your point, it shouldn’t be something that founders anticipate losing money on, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be at least in the early days a highly profitable channel. It’s about marketing that pays for itself about brand discovery and activation. If you were to put it on the continuum around strategy between sales and marketing, it’s somewhere in the middle, it creates awareness, activation, revenue, but the net contribution from a dollar perspective is negligible.

I would say so for most brands, especially in the beginning. As your volume goes up, it’s like anything else then your profits are going to hopefully increase. You go out the first time and you have your eight minutes. Let’s say you do dollars per minute. They’re going to want you back again. It’s your level of comfort too, you can say no. When you go back on air, it depends on your production schedule. In times of COVID-19 with everybody having issues with the supply chain, some of the brands are much further out in development and when they can be introduced and that’s okay. The buyers absolutely understand that. I would say that it’s up to you how often you want to be on. Products could be on every six weeks.

It depends on what their schedule is. During COVID-19, the food business online and on-air has exploded like it has for so many online retailers. Food is their number one category. They’re shifting more hours to food so that there are more food shows so that people can keep buying. After you’re on the air, you remain online as long as you want to remain online, and then you get orders in daily and reorders in. Customers want to reorder. If you want to pull it off the web, you can pull it off the web, but it can remain there as long as you want it to.

The typical thing let’s say, if you have a successful outing with QVC would be, you’ll be on six times a year for somewhere around that rank, remain online, grow that exposure and volume. Do you have a sense of what percentage of the food or the in the space is being sold post the eight minutes online versus during the eight-minute segment?

I would say that it’s high. I don’t have a percent. When you’re talking about watching TV or cashing a segment, people are working, they’re not watching, but they’ll catch up later. It’s the same way what they would do with something like this. They’ll catch up later, make that discovery and make that purchase. They do have a second channel called QVC2. That’s been an interesting platform for them because they’ve found that it doesn’t have the same viewership, but where the sales are coming in from is all the eCommerce. That’s been a good launching pad for some brands that they might not think are ready for the main channel, but they’ll put them on QVC2. If it does well there, then you move up to QVC main channel.

Here’s a question from Kim in terms of asking what your thoughts would be around something that’s 100% natural pain relief products.

That’s a category that works there. The challenge with any of those pain relief products, any type of a supplement, or any claims that you want to make have to be substantiated by third party substantiation. They used to be where if you had a cream and you said the cream was going to reduce pain by 85%, you needed to have a study on the cream, not just the ingredients to show that it would, in fact, reduce your pain by 85%. That’s the challenge. I’ve taken a lot of products there with claims. There are claims form, there’s legal. As long as it’s substantiated, they look at it and they tell you, “You can say this but you can’t say this.”

Claims are a challenge in every channel and growing more so in how you make them and what you can and cannot do. Let me ask the question in a broader way to you. One of the things about being a broker is that you’re also making it that on the brands that you bring in. You’re trying to ascertain which ones that you feel can do well on QVC. As you evaluate, as you look at the brand, product, story, economics, founder, I’m sure a part of it as well is how compelling they’ll be in front of the camera. Walk me through some of the things that you’re looking for. For the founders reading, check a mark next to things you feel like you have, and maybe need to work on in order to be QVC relevant. How do you grade, look, or evaluate a brand as to whether it makes sense for you to get behind and do the work?

For me, I need to get excited about something. If I find a product that has a great story, great ingredients, I’m going to reach out to that brand which I’ve done many times, talk to them and say, “Would you like to talk about this? Do you want to talk about the opportunity?” It is about the story and storytelling like we were talking about before. I don’t think that the person has to be a superstar to go on the camera. Everything’s done via phone. If you can’t do it, you can have somebody else do it for you. It’s not always about the person’s personality, but I do want to know the story, “Why was it created? why should I buy this? What going compel me to buy this?”

That’s a big part of looking at a brand. I don’t want another need to paint brand. I need something in that’s unique and different I haven’t heard of, and how’s it going to help me? You want to connect with her, which is what they call their customer. You want to get her excited that she wants to buy what you’re selling. You’ve got to be able to convey that. When I talk to somebody, I want to know what it is too. If I’m not familiar with your brand or your story, tell me about it. Tell me why do I want it and tell me how it’s going to make my life better. That’s what a lot of them look for. When you think about selling a piece of luggage, for instance. When luggage first went on wheels, that was unique. Everybody wanted one of those, then the telescoping handle. It’s always about, “Why do you want it? Why do you need this in your life?” That’s a big part of it.

What you’ve described is something that goes across any channel. The world has a lot of entries, products, decisions and brands. As a founder, one of the things that you have to be able to do in a very succinct basic way is to communicate in a compelling manner why it is that your product and your brand is going to make a difference in whoever’s going to buy its lives. If you can’t do that, it doesn’t matter if it’s QVC, Amazon, brick and mortar retail or if you’re meeting in a room with an investor. If you can’t do that, you will not succeed. It comes down to your ability to explain the why behind what you’re doing. It doesn’t sound like that’s any different in QVC, which is not surprising. Jenny asks a question, “If you could touch on packaging needed specifically to QVC and how that might differ from a retail or a typical online?”

They don’t need special packaging. For retail, you needed to ship in a four-color box and it’s going to save you some money to ship in a plain brown box or an envelope. That’s fine with QVC. You don’t need special packaging. I don’t know what this product that you’re referring to. If it’s food or skincare. A lot of the skincare companies have the cute boxes that tell a story when you get them. If that’s part of your brand message, then yes, you want to ship in that box, but you don’t have to do that. Cosmetics, for instance, you could end up getting a mascara or even shampoo in a padded envelope, and that works fine for them.

That leads me to a follow-up question in terms around configuration, price points or things. For products that find themselves on QVC, but also in brick and mortar retail, or on other eCommerce channels. Is it beneficial for them to have a QVC oriented packaging configuration or pricing to keep some different so you can show value? What’s the best practice there?

It goes back to the value. Let’s say you have an assortment of three flavors of something, you don’t offer in an assorted pack and it comes in a pack of six. You could have six of the plain and then a two with a two. You’re offering QVC something a little bit different than maybe they can’t find in your website, nor online. Creating something different or creating a package, adding if you’re selling tomato sauce and you want to add in a jar opener, something like that that they can’t find that makes it a little bit unique. That way, you can change the price point so that it looks like you’re getting a better value.

A question overall in terms of mistakes made, I don’t want to necessarily go to the negative, but I’m sure you’ve witnessed a few people fall flat on their face around their QVC launch. What any common lessons to be learned there? Anything that you’ve seen that you would caution those reading this to think through?

It would be more on the value. If you’re going to be on air at QVC when we can go back to the studio again or you’re even going to be a call-in, be authentic, that’s what they want. She’s going to connect to you and you need to connect to her. If she gets that true messaging, then she’s going to want to buy from you. When you can’t get that across and you can’t be genuine, then it doesn’t work. I would think that unless you priced yourself out of the marketplace or the value doesn’t seem to be there. Fortunately, I haven’t had too many things in my career that haven’t worked. When I did, it was either because we were way too soon on something which has happened and then you see it there five years later and you want to shoot yourself because you gave up on it. That’s more of what it is. You might be too early to the party.

Jenny had a follow-up, “Is there a golden price point for a multipack or just price points in general that seemed to work well for QVC?” In general, let’s talk about it specific to food and things along those lines.

In food, they don’t want to offer anything under $30. I would say from $30 to $60 are good for multi-packs. If you go on their website, you see they’re going to be selling shrimp for $116 or a pack of 40 hamburgers for $80 or lobsters for $150. You’d never think that consumers are buying that product on TV or online, but they are. I would say that the key price points are between $30 and $50, but it depends on what the product is and how much you’re getting.

It comes down to that value and creating that sense of value. A follow up to Jenny’s question, “Does QVC track reorders as well?”

Yes, because what happens is the buying team buys it first. The buyer will give you the initial order. You go on the air, you’re successful. Now, it goes to the planners. It’s the planner’s decision, “Where is this product going next? How much do I want them to have ready?” That’s how you get the increases there. It’s all about your last errands we like to say.

Kim and she wanted to say, “Good to know that it’s legally allowed to make pain relief claims for sprains, strains, back pain and mild arthritis as it is an FDA OTC approved analgesic blend with a natural healing and therapeutic products with great research and then 100% natural cream.”

Go on to QVC.com and type in, “Pain relief, natural creams,” and see what the competition is.

When a brand is considering going on to QVC or working with you, where typically, are they in their life cycle? What were the earliest brands that you’ve worked with in terms of size because there are lots of brands that are in the limbo land, especially with COVID about, “Do I launch in a bigger way in retail or hold off? Do I stay digitally native?” QVC could be a natural expansion of that awareness. Where does the brand need to be in its life cycle to be able to exist or does that matter?

A lot of the brands I’m working with are small and I like that. The thing that you have to be ready to do and this is probably my only warning. If they tell you to have 2,000 units ready, and you go on a year and you only saw 100, what are you going to do with the other 1,900? That’s what you have to think about. If for some reason it doesn’t work, what are you going to do with that inventory? I don’t want to take something that I don’t think is going to work. I’m going to try and avoid that, but it happens.

You’re not clairvoyant, at least not that you’ve admitted yet. That’s the hurdle and that’s the risk every time a young brand makes a production run in general. Whether not germane necessarily to QVC, it’s germane to anything, whether you’re sending that into an Amazon FBA center, whether you’re doing that on your own D2C website, whether you’re putting it on the shelves and a whole foods region. At the end of the day, you’ve got to hope your product does what you expect it to do. That comes down to taking the time in the early days to get in front of your consumers and make sure that you have something that matters, compelling, and that works for them. A question you may not be able to answer, so I will couch it right up front because it crosses channels. I’m curious if you’ve ever heard any feedback from brands or founders about how do brick and mortar retailers view a product after or while it’s on QVC? Especially, maybe one that hasn’t been in their stores yet.

Years ago, there was definitely a stigma about television shopping. People in brands didn’t want to do that, but what they found is it creates brand awareness. The stores don’t mind it because it’s going to drive sales into the store. There are still people that don’t want to buy that way. There are still people that want to go into a store and want to touch it, feel it, see it and buy it that way. Unless a product was $10 less for a single item on QVC than it was in the store, the store is going to get upset. I would say that it helps drive sales at retail. Stores don’t have a problem with it anymore. What’s been great about all the home shopping.

We’re seeing a big change in that in general. Buyers are starting to ask founders and brands about, “Tell me about your consumer journey. What part of it do you own on your website?” I’ve been talking a lot about this concept that the consumers buy up and down a continuum. There are various waypoints or intersections in which they buy. The brands that tend to do the best, find themselves in as many of those intersects or waypoints, where they feel that they can best interrupt that shopper’s behavior and get them to experience or discover something new. Most buyers are looking for products that are a category or they create it themselves.

If they come with awareness and a proven record of being able to transact, regardless of where that transaction is taking place, that benefits a brand as long as the pricing mechanism works well. A cautionary tale to anyone reading is pricing matters across channels because no one wants to compete against themselves or with your product on another channel or within the same channel. You want to be mindful of having a pricing architecture that allows for that because consumers do shop in many places and you don’t want them to find one place to be significantly different than another. It doesn’t serve you well, and it doesn’t serve your customers well.

One of the other things that I like to say in the world we’re living in social media, are you active on Instagram and Facebook? I’ve discovered several brands on Instagram. I’ve been shocked. I’ll find it, save it, and contact the owner because they’re out there. The buyers like to see that too. They want to see that there’s some brand awareness out there.

That leads to another question and that is, what is QVC looking for in a brand? How are they making the decisions as to what gets on air and what does not?

It’s about the discovery of new products, the story, and branding. They’re now about discovery. “Let’s find people and build them up and help them expand their brand.” That’s what the buyers are looking for across all categories. It’s going back to that entrepreneur who doesn’t know where to go and might want to start like this to elevate their brand.

As you’re saying that, what I’m also thinking about is there’s got to be an entertainment element to it as well. It has to make for good TV and has to be something that is more than the transaction of retail, but it’s retailtainment. It’s something that’s going to be enjoyable to watch. How do they look to ascertain that in your experience?

In another brand that I’m working with, the story is that the grandfather had a farm and he started this company out there, and then it went through the generations. The grandchildren are still carrying on a tradition. It goes back to what we were saying before about the story. “What’s the story? Why was this product created? Why do I want to buy from them? How’s that going to make me feel?” “That’s going make me feel good to support that person. I like what they’re doing. I support their efforts.” That’s what the customer is looking forward to.

Let’s talk about transactional flow. I’m on QVC for eight minutes. How does the whole process work? Explain that so people understand that flow. One of the things we talk a lot about with founders is the cash conversion cycle. How long it takes to convert that inventory into cash. What I hear from you is it’s drop shipped. That’s going to be fulfilled out of the brand’s own warehouse or a 3PL provider. They’re not selling the inventory in advance. A little light on that might be helpful for those reading.

QVCs terms are Net 45, especially, for small brands. It’s expanded more than that for larger brands. In the new food space is Net 45. Let’s say, Matt’s on the air and he sells 2,000 units. Normally, you have to ship all the units out within 48 hours. During the middle of the week, Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays, you don’t have to start shipping until the following Monday. You have a little leeway there. What happens is they work with a company, CommerceHub, and you get set up with them and the orders are transmitted to you. You download the orders. You use their paper stock, slapping on your package, and out they go. It’s fairly easy.

Do you get any customer information from them? Emails or anything along those lines or the physical address?

You’ve got a physical address.

West from Snooze has tossed you the perfect question. Snooze is a natural sleep aid drink, “How can I submit my brand to you or QVC so we can begin preliminary discussions about launching on this platform?”

Elliot has my contact information. I can give you my email, let’s start a conversation and we’ll see where we can take it from there.

If anyone wants it directly or wants me to make a direct connection, feel free to email me and I’ll be happy to do that. Here’s another question, “Is the customer demographic information provided when a customer places an order? Do you get any insider data as to who the customer is?

Unfortunately, we don’t. We would love to know.

It’s not necessarily a great place to get demographic information about who your consumer is or geographic. It’s just a great place to get exposure and brand awareness. Hopefully, that leads to future sales, not only on the QVC platform but elsewhere.

If you wanted to dig down, we could probably talk to the buyers because we have access to a vendor portal, which the vendor would too, and we, as the brokers do. We can’t see that information. The buyers may have some of it, depending on how big the brand is. You can ask them who’s been buying this product and get it that way.

Is there anything that we haven’t discussed or brought up or any of the people that haven’t asked questions, that should have been asked? Anything that you feel like you should be coaching or sharing with the founders reading that they should know about the opportunity that QVC represents?

Consumers are inundated with messages. What’s your message? It needs to be succinct. We want to have a purpose and want to find that touchpoint that’s going to make them buy your product and be authentic with that. It’s probably a medium that many new brands never thought about. What’s been exciting is that they’re discovering because people are home that there are other ways to shop. I don’t think it’s going to go away. I don’t think that once we’re allowed all to go back out, play again and socialize that this form of buying, is going to be reduced? Of course, it will be, but it’s been a new method of discovery. This form of retailing combines the best of retail, media, social and it makes it an extraordinary experience or somebody that might be selling for the first time or viewing for the first time.

Thanks for doing this with me. It’s fascinating. Even for me being an old industry hack, it took a little bit of an adjustment over to begin to see the opportunity that QVC or similar offers brands. We have to be innovative, creative, and willing to do different things to drive discovery awareness, to connect with consumers, to tell our story. A great exercise for everyone reading is if you were given that opportunity, if you were given the stage at QVC to talk about your brand in a way that would separate consumers from their cash and get them rapidly dialing for dollars or going online, what is it that you would tell them? What would that be and how would you phrase that? If I’m a consumer, why should I buy or believe in what you’re selling me? I think that would be a good homework assignment.

Think about Shark Tank. Look how that’s launched, whether they invest in that or not. Being on that platform skyrocketed a lot of companies with awareness that that’s dramatic with all of them up there. They’re yelling at each other. QVC is not like that. It’s a backyard mentality. It’s like you’re talking to your neighbor and a very nice conversational approach. It’s not Sally and not infomercial in your face. It’s a backyard conversation. That’s how you want to engage to be able to buy from you, buy your product, buy you.

Everybody who’s reading should also watch a little QVC because it is an interesting expose or illustration of how people talk about their products, their brands. There are elements of it that are instructional for all of us. It also gives us a great excuse to flop on the couch and flip on a TV set. For those who do want to reach out to you, how best to reach you?

Email is fine because I’ve got one of those blockers on my phone that won’t let anybody through unless you leave me a message.

Thanks. I hope to see you all soon on QVC. Have a great day.

Thanks, Elliot.

Important Links

• QVC

• Diane Rubizhevsky

• The Good Crisp Company

• Qurate Retail Group

• CommerceHub

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! tigbrands.com/tig-talks/