Has QVC lost its Sparkle...or bigger and better than ever!

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They have very much lost their shine. Eye-wateringly exorbitant prices, excessive P&P and long deliveries and interminably slow refunds - their operating model seems to suggest that they think they have no competition out there in the distance selling market. To be honest, it boggles the mind why they continue to operate like this with no hint of changes to come. They seem to focus solely on the new customers, apparently not caring if anyone comes back again to place another order. If you started as a customer today, I suspect you'd have seen pretty much everything they have to offer come the end of the year. The beauty channel is a microcosm of the business a whole - a wash, rinse, repeat cycle of products and brands that you soon get sick of. Ridiculous, awful fashions most people wouldn't want to be seen dead in. And the presenters, I'm not sure there's much I can add to what has already been said. None of them have any "screen appeal" for me now and most annoy me to the point where I could scream. Same for many of the guests. I know we moan a lot about Richard Jackson, but most fall into that category where you think "Oh, not them again!" when you see them on screen. Similarly for TSVs - gone are the days when you'd sit down at midnight hoping for something really good. If QVC don't actually tell you about it days in advance, you just know that what ever is coming won't be worth you waiting up for.

I was retired through ill health and can't get out to shop on the high street much and QVC used to be a pleasure and a diversion. In the early days, our postie of many years retired and, the first time I met him, his replacement said "So you're the lady who has all the parcels!". I was a bit embarrassed about that, but those days are long gone. There simply isn't anything to buy like that now. There were times I would take afternoons off work just so I could get to see a show while it was aired. I certainly wouldn't bother with that now, the channel is a mockery of what it used to be. It used to be that you'd see something you liked and would think to wait and see what QVC had first. Now it's the other way round - QVC might give you the idea, but you know you can buy it cheaper and better elsewhere.

QVC don't appear to be suffering yet, but if they continue to keep their collective heads in the sand about the online retail world around them, they won't last.
 
I started watching the channel around the time they started .There used to be lots to offer ,but since past few years I hardly watch and it seems to diminish as days go by .Like many of you said ,the presenters are awful ,that I hardly keep it on ,for background noise ,they really get on my nerves .The items are forever repeated ,for eg ,two days back they had jewellery clearance on 3 different hours ,The first two hours they repeated quite a few things ,so I decided to not watch the 3rd hour later the day .Same with beauty and fashion. The same guests ,the same awful items ,it's totally dismaying .Now if I want something ,I check the website and see if I can get it cheaper elsewhere .The Tsv's ,don't let me start .
Nowadays ,I record some shows in other channel and watch them when free or bored .
 
I used to take a day's annual leave to coincide with special programmes now I wouldn't even walk to the next room to watch a show.
 
Take Laura Geller for example watched a few shows today and the same products come on every hour so boring zzzzzzzzzzzz.
 
I don't watch anymore and I am ordering less and less. Make up orders are about 80%less than they used to be and I return quite a few items. The ones I keep are used up. Stockpiles are now minimal (just hairdye and body lotion!)

Have ordered some Yankee Candles and some plants. That's it. I have not even looked at the app for 5 days.
 
I think it has definitely lost its sparkle. I have been watching QVC on and off since I was a kid. When I was in 6th form I wrote a play in the style of Cathy Berbarian, which featured phrases and things from QVC! I used to love QVC for its spontaneity. Now they have become slick and dull in an aggressive way. It does make it all the more fun when something goes wrong now, though! I personally loved it when Pippa Gordon made a quip about Michele Hope wearing too much hairspray. It went down like a lead balloon and cued loads of back-pedalling!
 
As well as Q being abysmal at present I wonder were we easier to please years ago?

There were no emails /face book weeks before giving details and pre ordering invitation therefore we had to sit up to midnight just to see what the TSV was.

No website to catch up on earlier presentations and to keep check on the prices they charged and lies they told.

Most of the beauty brands were not available outside London or beauty salons whereas now Liz Earl is available in my huxter Boots . And all the brands have their own websites giving much better offers

Amazon!!

I went into a jewellers yesterday - a regional chain not very upmarket - and they are now doing at least 8 of the recent brands that Q are crowing about acquiring.

I think we have moved on but Q hasn't realised this and have made no effort in keeping up with us.

However I still read people gushing their ever lasting thanks to Q for ALLOWING them to spend their money to get some stupid monkey called Eamon/Girty/Maude or 80 squid of Yankee Candles, or Phoney Flowers so maybe we are the ones singing from the wrong hymn sheet?
 
As well as Q being abysmal at present I wonder were we easier to please years ago?

There were no emails /face book weeks before giving details and pre ordering invitation therefore we had to sit up to midnight just to see what the TSV was.

No website to catch up on earlier presentations and to keep check on the prices they charged and lies they told.

Most of the beauty brands were not available outside London or beauty salons whereas now Liz Earl is available in my huxter Boots . And all the brands have their own websites giving much better offers

Amazon!!

I went into a jewellers yesterday - a regional chain not very upmarket - and they are now doing at least 8 of the recent brands that Q are crowing about acquiring.

I think we have moved on but Q hasn't realised this and have made no effort in keeping up with us.

However I still read people gushing their ever lasting thanks to Q for ALLOWING them to spend their money to get some stupid monkey called Eamon/Girty/Maude or 80 squid of Yankee Candles, or Phoney Flowers so maybe we are the ones singing from the wrong hymn sheet?

Years ago home shopping was all about buying products from catalogues - Kays, Burlington, Grattan, Look Again, Freemans etc, and also products advertised in the back of newspapers. QVC brought something new in the way of on-air demos, but now it's all rather stale. Most of the demos are superfluous and full of padding. If I bought QVC I would completely get rid of the live hours / themed shows. I would make QVC an online retailer with video demos of each product available online and webchat facilities / forums to ask questions about products. QVC's "telly marketing" will always have one fatal flaw, in that they can only have one product on-screen at any one time. It's all very slow and tedious, like being taken round a department store on an insanely slow conveyer-belt whilst being slightly patronised at the same time.
 
As well as Q being abysmal at present I wonder were we easier to please years ago?

There were no emails /face book weeks before giving details and pre ordering invitation therefore we had to sit up to midnight just to see what the TSV was.

No website to catch up on earlier presentations and to keep check on the prices they charged and lies they told.

Most of the beauty brands were not available outside London or beauty salons whereas now Liz Earl is available in my huxter Boots . And all the brands have their own websites giving much better offers

Amazon!!

I went into a jewellers yesterday - a regional chain not very upmarket - and they are now doing at least 8 of the recent brands that Q are crowing about acquiring.

I think we have moved on but Q hasn't realised this and have made no effort in keeping up with us.

However I still read people gushing their ever lasting thanks to Q for ALLOWING them to spend their money to get some stupid monkey called Eamon/Girty/Maude or 80 squid of Yankee Candles, or Phoney Flowers so maybe we are the ones singing from the wrong hymn sheet?

You make a lot of very good points LATI.

I think you are right that we were easier to please (or being really cynical, harder to please).

Brands have much more choices about how they come to market nowadays. QVC doesn't have the power as although QVC shifts large volumes in a short space of time, people are now looking for the inside track through bloggers and vloggers and QVC is very late to the party, and people are aware of what is a good price they are willing to pay, and particularly with niche brands they don't have the "fat" in their operation to discount heavily. Apart from which QVC's discounts and vaunted buying power are being exposed as smoke and mirrors shored up by the ridiculous P&P.

QVC's target audience is definitely those who are still thanking QVC heartily for allowing them to shop with QVC. I have been grateful to QVC in the past myself, but for introducing me to brands and items I wouldn't have tried without the 30 day MBG, but it is amazing in this day and age of price comparison websites, eBay, Amazon et al to still see it. So many of us may have moved on, but there always seems to be someone else to get caught in the net. So I definitely agree we're not singing from the same song sheet as QVC's target audience any more.

I think one of the many things I'm grateful for is the sense of community you can sometimes feel with fellow QVC shoppers... and without QVC I'd never have come here to this forum... and they still do have the odd gem of a product at a great price, even with the ridiculous P&P that I now always factor in to the price (thanks, guys)...
 
You make a lot of very good points LATI.

I think you are right that we were easier to please (or being really cynical, harder to please).

Brands have much more choices about how they come to market nowadays. QVC doesn't have the power as although QVC shifts large volumes in a short space of time, people are now looking for the inside track through bloggers and vloggers and QVC is very late to the party, and people are aware of what is a good price they are willing to pay, and particularly with niche brands they don't have the "fat" in their operation to discount heavily. Apart from which QVC's discounts and vaunted buying power are being exposed as smoke and mirrors shored up by the ridiculous P&P.

QVC's target audience is definitely those who are still thanking QVC heartily for allowing them to shop with QVC. I have been grateful to QVC in the past myself, but for introducing me to brands and items I wouldn't have tried without the 30 day MBG, but it is amazing in this day and age of price comparison websites, eBay, Amazon et al to still see it. So many of us may have moved on, but there always seems to be someone else to get caught in the net. So I definitely agree we're not singing from the same song sheet as QVC's target audience any more.

I think one of the many things I'm grateful for is the sense of community you can sometimes feel with fellow QVC shoppers... and without QVC I'd never have come here to this forum... and they still do have the odd gem of a product at a great price, even with the ridiculous P&P that I now always factor in to the price (thanks, guys)...

QVC introduced me to the Greased Lightning car care products so I'm grateful to them for that. With 3 cars now, I'm getting through a lot of that product. I bought some "Shake 'n' Shine" on offer at Asda for £5 today. Will try it and see if it's any good.
 
I think the EP`s keep a lot of customers coming back for more. It`s nothing unusual for some people to have quite a few EP`s at the same time or to buy several tsv`s (especially beauty ones ) all on EP too. It may be cheaper for them to buy elsewhere but only Q would let them pay for their makeup/skincare in several installments. You regularly read on Q`s facebook people buying bags in several colours on EP or stockpiling LE or Elemis tsv`s because they`re on EP.
In the end they all have to be paid for but some people openly admit they have so many EP`s they can`t keep track of them. So no matter how dire the presenters or the shows become, there`ll always be those people ready to sign up for another 2, 3 or 4 months of Q having first dibs on their wages.
 
QVC introduced me to the Greased Lightning car care products so I'm grateful to them for that. With 3 cars now, I'm getting through a lot of that product. I bought some "Shake 'n' Shine" on offer at Asda for £5 today. Will try it and see if it's any good.
Please let me know if the shake 'n' Shine' is good!
 
Just watching a re run of Tignanello handbags.While I agree we have become harder to please, the quality and look of many products has gone downhill. I used to look forward to the variety and vibrancy of the Tig bags but now they are not distinct since they were re packaged .They ,like many products have cut costs by cheapening parts like the straps being plastic and they just generally look cheaper.i need a new bag but nothing attracted me.

Jewellery is pretty much set in silver or costume type and many of the items are tiny as in Links of London. Cheap and cheerful doesnt do it for me ,I'd pay a little more for better quality. As they have expanded to so many other countries Q's products are mass produced on a huge scale and quality and choice have suffered as a result .In my opinion.
 
It lost its sparkle long ago. I rarely watch and used to have it on in the background if working at home. Now I am just bored with the repeat brand TSVs, their fashion is a joke, jewellery overpriced and boring, many of the beauty brands old and tired.

Much more repeat brands nowadays and agree with you on their fashion. Also more tit tat things, which I see in my local shops and markets and cheaper and often better looking quality. Mainly referring to Garden chimes, windy windy and other dire bits and bobs!
 
Anything over 23 years that's the same thing day in, day out will lose its sparkle. QVC haven't evolved in all that time, still expensive, slow delivery and even more painfully slow refunds. The new generation of shoppers that have the world of shopping at their finger tips and who've never not known the Internet will shop around first, just as I started doing a few years ago, and let's face it, if you've got a choice between free delivery and cheaper goods, or £5.95 delivery waiting best part of a week to get it, you're going to go with free and cheaper aren't you? well I know I would. QVC are technically QVC USA so any shortfalls will be covered by them, the parent group, if it wasn't and QVCUK had to support themselves I bet they'd soon change eh?

Suppose the choice is far bigger and greater in todays market! QVC was also discussed in my circle lots around 10 years ago, now I'm the only one who seems to watch it, even less and less than back then.
 
I sometimes think it needs Mary Portas to shake them out of their staid, samey boringness. The obsession with social media is the one thing they need to address - far from being inclusive it is alienating to, I suspect, 99% of the audience.

Could she resolve these issues, lololo! Social Media has its place, there is an overwhelming use with certain presenters and same people who use it :mysmilie_1:
 
Got to say have never taken AL to watch but this made me laugh!

It was pre website days when they had jewellery sales and there was great bargains if you were quick or when they did special shows from Italy with brand new designs at special prices. You were totally dependent on the on air presentations.
 

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