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Shop At Home TV

A new sales opportunity for manufacturers?

by Debba Haupert (June, 2004)

In the on-going search for more sales, manufacturers should consider is a TV shopping network. Somewhat new on the scene, the Shop At Home Network is very interested in growing its scrapbook, sewing, and craft categories. Owned by media powerhouse, E.W. Scripps (www.scripps.com), Shop At Home is positioned for considerable growth in the electronic sales arena through tie-ins to with their "sister" networks (also owned by Scripps), Home and Garden Television (HGTV), Do It Yourself Network (DIY), Fine Living, and and the Food Network.

Actually, Shop At Home has been a nationally televised home shopping service for 17 years, but was purchased by Scripps in 2002. Shop At Home sells merchandise through interactive electronic media, primarily including broadcast, cable, and satellite television, as well as at www.shopathometv.com, from its facilities in Nashville.

Shop At Home currently reaches approximately 47 million full-time cable households and 70 million cable households for some portion of the day through its nearly 350 affiliated television, cable, and direct broadcast satellite systems, including DIRECTV (Channel 234) and DISH Network (Channel 224). (To find Shop At Home locally, enter your zip code in the channel finder on their web site.)

Shop At Home, as well as the other shopping networks, recognizes that its customers react to value. SAH wants customers to feel confident they are getting a great product at a great price. Some networks may have a preferred price-point; however Shop At Home does not. They are interested in new products, different configurations for products/kits, and products that generate a "WOW!" when demonstrated on television.

The craft/scrapbook category is growing rapidly on Shop At Home. The network currently have monthly scrapbook programming and plans to expand in the next 60 days into sewing, quilting, and other craft sub-categories. They will celebrate an August Scrapbooking Anniversary show and will host several hours of programming surrounding the September 25-26th DIY Scrapbooking Marathon on the DIY network.

For example, Shop At Home�s craft shows in June aired on June 4th at 11 pm-1 am, and on June 5th 8-10 am, 3-5 pm, and 9-11 pm. Manufacturers are given 8 to 20-minute segments per show to demo their products. So, over the course of two days with several craft programs, manufacturers could have several hours of live demonstrations. This reaches an audience that is growing through the increased awareness through promotion on HGTV and DIY (and their popular web sites), as well as current manufacturers drawing their customers to Shop At Home scrapbook/craft shows.

Patrick Accorsi is the Household Products/Hobby/Craft buyer at Shop At Home � paccorsi@sath.com, call 615-263-8495. He attends HIA, ACCI, Memory Trends, etc., and will set appointments with manufacturers interested in selling on Shop At Home. Patrick (who is great to work with!) is interested in featuring craft products that are well demonstrated and visually appealing. Keep in mind the affiliation with HGTV and DIY; if your products would appeal to this audience, he may be interested in them. If the sister stations are educating the customer in a category, they will offer the product, as well as quick tips and the latest techniques from industry experts. As an example of the cross-over promotions, Sandi Genovese, host of the DIY Scrapbooking show, taped promos for a recent scrapbooking weekend on Shop At Home. Look for more co-marketing between Shop At Home and DIY, HGTV, Food, and Fine Living networks.

Selling crafts on TV.

QVC, HSN and Shop At Home � How do craft manufacturers work with these shopping networks? Is this something you should consider? First, learn which manufacturers and products are currently selling. Does your product appeal to the same consumer? In addition to scrapbooking shows, each network has other themes (general crafts, creative home dec, etc.). Learn the networks, their programming, and the viewers/buyers they reach. (Typically the demographics for shopping channels are 70-75% women � which is most likely even higher during craft-themed shows.)

Think through the reality of selling on TV. Do you have the production and financial situation to have thousands of kits/products sitting in a warehouse ready to sell � or be returned to you if they don�t? Can you cut your margin possibly below your standard retailer terms? Are you willing to support the sales success with a professional on-camera demonstrator? (Remember - the more/better you tell, the more you sell!) Does this TV network fit your brand, goals and marketing strategy?

(Editor's Note: If you want to sell on tv without irritating your retail customers, create a kit that is not sold in stores.)

TV offers not only the opportunity to sell merchandise, but it's also is a great venue to demonstrate products and show/explain benefits to craft consumers on a broad scale. Enthusiastic buyers respond to new products, unique combinations of products in a kit, and items with cool techniques, multiple uses, and widespread appeal. Demonstrating products on TV generates sales before, during, and after the on-air segments � on the network's website, too. It also creates awareness and retail sales following the broadcast. Avid scrapbooking viewers tune in to monthly shows, often calling in and sharing how they�ve taken time off work and/or have stayed up all night to not miss a single product offered. These are serious crafters � and buyers!

If you do think selling on a shopping network is a viable and profitable opportunity, approach a buyer to begin the process. (Each of the shopping networks offer information on becoming a vendor on their websites.) Your product will go through rigorous quality testing and must meet their buying/shipping requirements. You may need to train a demonstrator on your products. (QVC requires that on-air demonstrators attend a day of training at QVC before going on-camera.) Define the key sales benefits and features/qualities to stress to the viewers. Share this with your on-camera demonstrator. Depending on the show and the product/kit offered, you may need signage, project samples, and/or project sheets/patterns. Make sure everything meets your quality standards � potentially thousands of potential customers will be watching.

Personal advice.

I�ve had the opportunity to work with various manufacturers as a sales rep and on-camera demonstrator for a few of the shopping networks. It is a fun experience (if you�re comfortable being live on camera and a good communicator/demonstrator), but it's always an adventure!

First, recognize that preparation is key to sales success on shopping networks. Your representative � the "guest" (who is generally a professional demonstrator/designer) will work with the network host(s) to demo the product. He/she needs to be very familiar with the product, understand the techniques and how to show them to the camera as if it was an actual consumer.

The host will be briefed on the product and its key selling points, but she is generally not a craft expert and will be unfamiliar with the product�s unique attributes. It is the guest�s responsibility is to assist the host in explaining the product, communicating why viewers should buy it, showing samples, etc. The guest should know all the hot "buttons" such as mentioning the crossover between scrapbooking and other crafts, the versatility of the product or scenarios where the product would be very helpful, etc. For example, if the product would save a busy mom�s time, make it easier for teachers to do their jobs or entertain kids for hours, tell viewers about it. If there is a holiday coming up, show viewers how they can use the product during this time. On occasion a viewer may call in (live) and give comments. Your demonstrator must be the expert and be able to answer the caller's questions. Not a job for the timid or someone unfamiliar with the product!

Final thoughts.

There are definite risks involved; if you invest in a large lot of inventory and it doesn�t sell, you may take a sizeable loss. A product/kit customized for TV may not be suitable to resell through retail. Payment for sold product may be 30-45 days after the sales segment. Approach the situation with caution if you are a small manufacturer who cannot afford the risk involved.

If everything goes well, you sell out and the buyer wants you back � with an even larger quantity! If it doesn�t go as well as you hoped, re-evaluate the situation to see if you might be able to tweak the product/offering for future shows, or consider it a lesson learned and an opportunity explored. Either way, you just may become a shopping network consumer yourself!

QVC. (www.qvc.com) QVC broadcasts live 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, and introduces 250 new products every week to viewers in 85 million homes across the United States. QVC sales in 2002 reached more than $4.4 billion.

Home Shopping Network. (www.hsn.com). More than 81 million U.S. households, Viewership: 75% female, Age: 40+, Average Income: $63,000, 2003 Sales: $2.2 billion.

Shop At Home. (www.shopathometv.com). Patrick Accorsi is the Household Products/Hobby/Craft buyer � paccorsi@sath.com, 615-263-8495.

ShopNBC. (www.shopNBC.com) (previously Value Vision, currently does not have scrapbook/craft themed programming) ShopNBC TV broadcasts into more than 53 million households via cable and satellite.

Note: Debba Haupert�s company, BoBella Marketing LLC, provides marketing, product development, sales, on-camera and other creative support services for the craft industry. Her craft designs have been published in numerous magazines and books, and her book, The New Book of Image Transfer, published by Lark Books, was released in May. Debba has represented manufacturers on Carol Duvall, QVC, Shop At Home and A.C. Moore videos. She has developed products and kits sold in Michaels and Hobby Lobby. She is a member of HIA and serves on the SCD Board of Directors. Information on Debba Haupert and BoBella Marketing is available at www.bobella.com. Debba can be reached at debba@bobella.com, 513-533-0793.

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