Mobile Takes Over QVC’s Online Sales

Mobile is becoming an increasingly dominant part of QVC’s online sales, according to parent company Liberty Interactive’s latest quarterly report released last week (May 8).

Mobile accounted for 52 percent of the TV and Web retailer’s $813 million in online revenues in the first quarter of 2015, compared with a 38 percent tally a year earlier, when QVC posted $773 million in eCommerce sales.

Mobile growth, in double digits year over year, was a highlight of the quarter, and QVC has been pushing mobile since earlier this year, with “Easy Pay” and “Buy More, Save More” features, alongside social media promotions.

During the Liberty call to discuss results, management pointed to an ongoing revamp of the website – its first in eight years – to spur increased online interest. The company also touched on its Apple Watch app launch, which rolled out last month in the U.S., U.K. and Germany.

Specifically on mobile, QVC CEO Mike George said on the call, “It is an attractive customer base, it’s younger than our average customer base. There’s a fairly high number of new customers that come through mobile.” Mobile, George continued, is “really critical to increasing relevancy of the brand, attracting new customers, having a platform on which those folks want to interact, being able to access QVC in more places and extend purchase occasions.”

The Internet now accounts for 42 percent of total QVC sales of roughly $1.99 billion, compared with 39 percent a year earlier (when the top line was $1.93 billion). Total sales slipped on the heels of currency impact, where the strong dollar dominated. Excluding currency impact, sales would have been up 2 percent.

Liberty Interactive split QVC and its stake in HSN Inc. from its other eCommerce companies last October. Excluding QVC, Liberty’s online properties operate under the Liberty Ventures Group umbrella. Liberty Ventures Group grew first quarter sales 10.4 percent year over year to $276 million.