CHANNELING FRANCE: QVC is making its entry in France. The American home shopping channel and Web site is to launch its site in June and will start airing in August (through DSL and satellite.)
Outside its domestic market, QVC is already present in the U.K., Germany, Japan, Italy, and China through a joint venture.
“It is the right time [to enter France],” Steve Bridgeman, chief executive officer of QVC France explained to WWD. “France is a mature market digitally.”
Four years after its launch, QVC Italy generates 110 million euros, or $122.3 million at current exchange rates, according to Bridgeman. With a reach of 13 million homes in France, Bridgeman expects to generate at least the same number in a four-year timeframe.
The company has equipped itself with a 3,230 square-foot studio in Seine Saint-Denis outside Paris and aims to employ 250 permanent roles in the country within three years.
When it launches, QVC France will stock 25 fashion brands including French labels Devernois and Damart; 15 accessories labels, including Les Néréides, a jewelry brand that sells at the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps; and beauty brands such as Gatineau, BareMinerals and Elemis.
“It will be a new platform for French labels,” Chantal Roux, QVC France’s fashion buyer, explained. “Conversely, it will be a platform for American labels such as Liz Claiborne and Isaac Mizrahi to sell in France.”
By the end of 2015, QVC plans to stock around 300 brands across categories.
QVC generated net sales of $8.8 billion dollars in 2014, with 40 percent coming from e-commerce.