HSN and the Power of the TV Shopper

Last year, HSN (once called the Home Shopping Network, now known simply by its initials) sold $2.5 billion worth of merchandise — one steamer, one blender, one treadmill at a time. The 33-year-old company knows what sells and, more importantly, who it's selling to.  
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On this monitor, they can see how long a specific product has been on the air, how many people have it in their digital shopping carts, how many are speaking to live operators, and how many are on hold, waiting for their turn to talk.
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"I literally know in real time how people are responding," E!'s Giuliana Rancic, one of HSN's many celebrity partners, explains between segments. She started selling over 10 hours ago at midnight, and will be appearing on-screen periodically throughout the rest of the day.
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Presenters, shoppers, customer service reps, and control room supervisors are all in constant communication; there are no quiet moments. If an HSN phone operator receives multiple inquiries about the battery life of a point-and-shoot camera or whether or not a non-stick frying pan is dishwasher safe, you can bet it will be addressed publicly within minutes thanks to a swift transmission of information from customer to behind-the-scenes employee to on-air personality.
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First, QVC — which stands for "Quality, Value, Convenience" — is ultimately bigger, serving six countries and 235 million homes across the world with $8.8 billion in revenue. The QVC brand roster also skews slightly more fashion-centric
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As it stands, QVC is in 85 million American homes, 11 million shy of HSN's 96. Though QVC is the global tele-retailing leader, HSN rules the American market.
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A big point of pride at HSN is its ability to launch new celebrity brands; brand exclusives, which make up 70 percent of HSN's total sales, are another.
http://www.racked.com/2015/10/5/9442859/hsn-home-shopping-network