Greg
Gore is Vice President of Praxis International, Inc. Technical Training, Consulting, and Publishing since 1988
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iQVC
Named Tops in E-tailing by National Research Group |
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In
the most recent PowerRankings(tm) report released January 05, 2001, iQVC
won the top spot over other major Internet retailers such as Amazon.com,
Best Buy, and buy.com. "(iQVC's) happy customers are the key to its
success," said Tom Rhinelander, research director for Forrester
Research. In
a holiday season that was unkind to many e-tailers, iQVC's happy
customers propelled it to a 56% increase in 2000 eHoliday sales over
1999 sales. Also in December 2000, iQVC celebrated it first $10 million
week and enjoyed its largest selling day ever with over $3.1 million in
sales. Total annual sales at iQVC top $100 million. Steve
Hamlin, Vice President of Operations for iQVC, says, "Knowing our
customers, merchandising to their needs, and integrating the QVC and
iQVC experiences are the keys to making and keeping happy customers. All
QVC and iQVC systems and inventories are tied together, allowing
customers to track orders via the telephone or the Internet." "QVC
formed a community through show hosts and celebrities," adds
Hamlin, "and when you form a community, you have happy and loyal
customers. Just as QVC does live chats with show hosts and celebrities,
iQVC conducts over 25,000 'LivePerson' interactive chats a month. These
chats allow our customers to communicate with experts on a real time
basis. In addition, we answer over 23,000 customer e-mails a
month." QVC's
customers are made to feel at home at iQVC. The iQVC website, www.iQVC.com,
also features the familiar QVC "Today's Special Value" and
customers can click "On the air" to see the current QVC
offering. iQVC's own surveys show that 53% of its customers come from
QVC and 21% come from "word of mouth." The demographics reveal
that iQVC's customers on the whole are slightly younger and wealthier
than the QVC customer base. iQVC has a 70% female base, while QVC has an
85% female base. "QVC
is geared to 'impulse' buys by viewers," says Hamlin, "while
iQVC is oriented to 'considered purchase' buys. One of the keys to our
success is that we have a good product search engine on our site. When
they log-on to iQVC, 50% of our customers first use the search feature
to find a product quickly. We also offer expanded search functions. For
example, customers can search the fashion category by size, color, brand
and price, and they can search the jewelry category by size." iQVC's
intricate back-end web technology allows for fast page loading, seamless
links, and clean navigation. "People should intuitively know how to
navigate your site," reinforces Hamlin. "If customers cannot
easily navigate your site, they will go to a competitor. While we have
vast technical capabilities, we do not deliver technology until the
consumer is ready for it. As an example, we use video sparingly because
for consumers with 28.8k modems, video is virtually worthless." iQVC's
easy-to-use website combined with QVC's reputation for outstanding
customer service, superior delivery and quality merchandise make it the
odds-on favorite to continue in its position as #1 online retailer in
the general merchandise category. __________ The Greg Gore Web Site on Computers and the Internet (www.GregGore.com) This
column was published in the Daily Local News, West Chester, PA on January
31, 2001. Greg Gore can be
reached at gg@GregGore.com. ©
2009 by Greg Gore. All rights reserved. |