LIM College

Online/Amazon might be destroying the business model of many retailers, but most ecommerce sites come in a weak third in terms of discovery, engagement, and experience, the key differentiators in a world where product fast becomes commoditized. Here video shopping may hold a key to restoring some retail mojo.

Video is the media channel for millennials and GenZ. According to eMarketer, more than 90% of US internet users ages 12-34 are digital video viewers.

Given the overall trends in ecommerce, and video’s role as the prime driver of content consumption at home, work, and via mobile, home shopping networks—Evine Live, HSN and QVC (a subsidiary of Liberty Interactive)—have the institutional proficiency in creating compelling live shopping experiences with curated product as well as reading and reacting live to consumer data analytics. These skills, garnered over 30+ years of operating TV/cable shopping channels position Evine, HSN and QVC to meet the demands of video watchers/nee video shoppers.

Marketing in 2017 is a new animal. Every digital touchpoint requires consideration and what a brand communicates on Facebook is different than Instagram, than Snapchat, than Pinterest, than YouTube, etc. 

This is not about putting a “buy” button everywhere, but creating engaging content and a seamless path to purchase. Home shopping networks get this. Their form of selling engages the viewer, tells a brand story, interacts with and responds to the viewer; in other words, these retail platforms allow for the creation of real relationships and emotional connections.

In the US, home shopping is dominated by Evine, HSN, and QVC. Combined they generate $9.5 billion in sales annually and have been outpacing the growth of the department store channel. New startups include Joyus and likely a few more are being hatched.

Something magical happens when live retailing-relationships are built. Personal connections are made. Consumers are ravenous for relationships with brands and for a sense of community. EVINE, HSN and QVC are vastly ahead of most brick-and-mortar and online retailers in making retail an experience with video content that can live digitally, whether it be on a TV, smart phone, tablet or watch.

For instance, HSN created its first shoppable video, which allowed customers to view and purchase items as part of the exclusive launch of Serena Williams' fall 2016 runway collection during Fashion Week. This shoppable experience was featured on HSN.com and people.com and was streamed across multiple platforms, including vogue.com.

At Shoptalk Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN, spoke of distributed commerce that is customer/audience centric and platform agnostic.

“For HSN, this means moving from a model of one broadcast on 96 million screens, to 96 million individualized broadcasts across 96 million screens. Experiential retail one-to-one."