Shop till you drop... the telly remote
„ LOVE it or loathe it, shopping channel QVC is booming, with a huge UK turnover of £½billion a year! Today marks 25 years since the small screen selling sensation hit TVs across our land. „ Here to mark its birthday, JAMES MOORE has put together 25 fast
QVC, which stands for A Quality, Value, Convenience, was launched in the US in 1986 by entrepreneur Joseph Segel.
IT’S beamed into B
350million homes in the world, with £6billion global sales.
THE UK channel was C first broadcast at 2pm on October 1, 1993.
THE first item sold D “live” was a bright yellow VW Beetle alarm clock, priced at £16.50.
QVC sold more than E
£16m of goods in its first year. UK annual turnover is now a cool £485m.
IT launched a specialist F beauty channel in
2010, selling 250 brands. QVC Style and QVC Extra launched since.
7.5m Brits have shopped G with QVC.
THEY deliver 17m H packages annually from a warehouse in Knowsley, Merseyside. It’s the size of eight football pitches.
STAFF at their call centre I deal with 168,000 calls a day on 350 phones.
AS well as its TV channels J and online shop, QVC has two outlet stores in Warrington, Cheshire, and Shrewsbury, Shrops.
QVC broadcasts live K from 9am to 2am.
ITS London-based L studios have day beds so that the presenters – more than 20 of them – can have a snooze.
HOSTS include former M Miss Great Britain Debbie Greenwood. EARLIER this year N Saturday Night Takeaway’s Ant and Dec crashed the set while QVC ambassador and Britain’s Got Talent star Amanda Holden was selling goods.
QVC concentrates on O beauty, fashion, home furnishings, jewellery and home electronics and now attracts big brand names like Apple and Dyson.
CELEBS are queuing P up to promote their own wares. Lisa Snowdon has gone on to plug her jewellery and Trinny & Susannah have flogged their fashion range on air.
SINGERS including Q Katherine Jenkins have also gone on QVC to sell their albums. LULU has plugged R her beauty products.
PRINCE Charles is a S self-confessed fan.
ACTRESS Catherine T Zeta-Jones also goes on the channel Stateside to sell her bedding, sleepwear and towel collection.
THE busiest shopping U time is midnight, when bargains known as Today’s Special Value are revealed.
TRADITIONAL QVC V shoppers who use the free phone line are nicknamed “Golden Girls”.
IN July 2017, around W 50,000 Silent Night Pure Cotton pillows were sold in just 24 hours.
EVEN pearl necklaces X priced at £20,000 have been snapped up.
REPLICAS of both Kate Y Middleton and Meghan Markle’s engagement rings, priced between £20-35, sold out almost instantly.