Inventors Success on QVC
{Don Debelak’s new book, Turning Your Invention into Cash is now available on Amazon for $3.49. Go to Amazon.com and enter inventions Don Debelak to purchase. From the author of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Bringing Your Product to Market.}
Inventor Story: Maureen Kelly
Maureen Kelly was tired of buying cosmetics from the cosmetics counter. She liked how she looked at the store with the help of the make-up artist, but when she got home, she could never recreate the same look. She realized that the cosmetics industry was creating products for the experts that normal people like her didn’t know how to use. In 1999, she decided to solve this problem and create cosmetics that the everyday woman could use and look great.
She created an upscale cosmetics line called Tarte and in 2000 her products launched in up-scale Henri Bendel department stores. Since then her business has doubled every year and had grown into a strong, stable company until 2005 when she decided her company was strong enough to take a risk: she decided to appear on QVC.
QVC has scouts out searching the country for products that would be a good fit for its audience. They not only look at the product, but the story behind the product. A good story gets people interested in the product. Kelly has such a story; she launched her product out of a one bedroom apartment in New York. QVC first approached her a couple of years ago, but she didn’t feel like her company was ready. She wisely wanted to keep her growth in control and she feared what would happen if she was successful on QVC. She also feared if she had an unsuccessful appearance she would be stuck with a large amount of inventory, which QVC requires before you present your product, that she wouldn’t be able to move.
QVC approached Kelly again two years later and she felt like her company was ready for the jump. QVC gives you all of the training you need (they offer a three day training class for new vendors) and does all it can to make your product successful on its program. When Kelly went on the air she sold nearly 1,800 units in less than nine minutes. She was so successful that she came back, and continued to be successful.
More than just the sales she made on QVC, she raised awareness about her product and increased sales in retail stores as well. Overall, her QVC appearances boosted sales by 33%.
Additionally, QVC receives a lot of customer comments, and even feds comments to the host while the show is live so the show can be adjusted accordingly. These customer comments, and other helpful comments from QVC itself, have helped Kelly better understand her target market and therefore create products that better meet consumer desires.
QVC can do much more than increase sales for existing companies — it can be a great place to launch a new product and some companies use it as their main sales channel. You will need to have a large amount of inventory, but if you are an underfinanced inventor and you get an order from QVC, you should be able to use that as leverage for finding partners or investors.
How to submit a product to QVC:
QVC is always looking for new products and they frequently travel around the country looking for products. QVC makes easy for inventors, even ones that can’t go to one of their product reviews to submit products. Go to this website for more information on getting your product on QVC:
https://www.vendor.studiopark.com/submit.asp
Is your inventory of your product too low to sell to QVC or other major retailers? Email info@onestopinventionshop.net with a short product description, and your web page address, if you have one, and let us see if we can help you.