Here’s some quick points on selling to QVC.  I have never sold to HSN, although I am guessing these points can also apply there:

  • If you do not have at least have a direct-to-consumer component to your business or are not already in some form of retail distribution, then QVC efforts may not do much for you. The benefits to QVC is that they give you awareness for sales in other channels, but which you are not yet in full distribution.
  • Unless you have a truly unique idea that is sufficiently different to interest a large number of consumers, you probably won’t make a heap of money off of QVC.
  • QVC has a very lengthy and thorough product approval process.
  • QVC has a minimum sales requirement – like $5000 or higher – per minute of air-time. I have worked with QVC from 2 different companies/products and this hurdle was the same for both.  This hurdle might be different based on the product and category, but suffice to say, it will still be high, regardless.
  • You might only get a few minutes of air-time to start and then its wait a few months before you are scheduled again, if you get scheduled again.
  • QVC may have specific packaging requirements to be able to sell your product.  Look at possibly creating new SKU’s for them.
  • QVC requires time and money and the return might not be there.  Look more at the ability for QVC to build awareness for your product rather than produce sales for you.