QVC, Inc., one of the world’s largest multimedia retailers, broadcasts live 24 hours a day, 364 days a year. A wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Interactive Group (Nasdaq: LINTA), QVC was founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel. Mike George currently serves as the company’s president and CEO.
QVC’s worldwide corporate headquarters, known as Studio Park, is located in West Chester, PA., 30 miles west of Philadelphia. The building sits on 84 acres of land and is roughly the size of 15 U.S. football fields.
QVC employs more than 17,200 people worldwide. QVC has international broadcast operations in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan.
QVC programming reaches approximately 96 percent of all U.S. cable homes and nearly 30 million satellite homes. This brings the grand total to more than 166 million homes worldwide. QVC reaches more American homes than networks such as Lifetime, MTV, VH1, E!, Style, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, and A&E.
QVC achieved its best sales day ever on December 2, 2001, with over $80 million in orders taken; the Dell™ Intel Pentium IV personal computer was the most popular item sold on that day.
QVC’s buying staff of close to 170 people searches the world for quality merchandise. Product categories include: Home; Electronics; Cooking & Dining; Collectibles; Fitness; Music; Beauty; Jewelry; and Fashion.
QVC presents 1,150 products every week – 288 of these products are brand new to the QVC customer. Brand leaders include philosophy, Dell™, and Bare Escentuals.
On November 12, 2006, QVC set a record for the number of shipments (600,682), as well as the number of items shipped (678,078) in a 24-hour period.
On November 10, 2007, QVC set a record for the most orders taken in a 24-hour period with 851,627 orders.
In April 2008, QVC launched QVCHD, a high-definition simulcast of its U.S. broadcast, providing crisper, more colorful programming.
QVC.com attracts 5.2 million unique visitors each month. To date, 50 million people worldwide have shopped with QVC.
With 2007 net sales totaling $7.4 billion, QVC is now significantly larger than many well-established traditional retailers.
In 2007, QVC shipped 166 million units worldwide. In 2007, QVC achieved sales of over $1 billion on QVC.com. The company received more than 181 million phone calls in the U.S. alone. The record for the most calls handled in a 24-hour period is 1,246,387, which was set on April 8, 2006.
In 2008, QVC.com was ranked the number two web site for customer satisfaction in ForeSee Results’ “Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index”.
Over the last 22 years, QVC has shipped more than one billion packages in the U.S.
QVC has domestic call center operations in West Chester, PA; Chesapeake, VA; San Antonio, TX; and Port St. Lucie, FL. Its five domestic distribution centers are located in West Chester, PA; Suffolk, VA; Lancaster, PA; Rocky Mount, N.C.; and Florence, S.C.
QVC’s U.S. distribution centers can pack up to 300,000 packages daily. QVC’s worldwide warehouse space is the size of approximately 109 U.S. football fields.
For the past 14 years, QVC and the Fashion Footwear Association of New York have joined together to broadcast QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale,” a charitable shoe sale, which has sold over 1 million pairs of shoes. The organization has donated more than $28 million to breast cancer research and education programs.
QVC has worked with the Chester County, PA, chapter of Habitat for Humanity since 1997 and has helped to raise more than $1.7 million.