Converged media company and retailer ShopNBC TV and ShopNBC.com is pursuing a dual strategy to build traffic and sales, COO Dick Barnes tells Internet Retailer. About 70% of the company’s sales on its longer-running TV channel are in higher-end jewelry and accessories and the primary audience is women. The company is developing that franchise further by creating more entertainment programming wrapped around celebrities and their retail selections, such as the Star Jones show, which features merchandise picks of Jones, a host of the daytime talk show, “The View” on ABC TV.
The addition of ShopNBC.com as a web site that streams programming from the TV channel also is creating new opportunities to reach customers who haven’t traditionally shopped TV, says Barnes. ShopNBC TV and ShopNBC.com are going after those customers by pursuing retailers and manufacturers with long-established offline brands and developing entertainment programming for the TV and web streaming that represents both an advertising and a direct merchandising opportunity via phone and web site orders. Examples include the recent addition of regularly appearing sponsored shows for Bass Pro Shops and Godiva chocolates. The two merchandising and programming approaches are being timed for broadcasting and streaming to reach different audiences, such as programming featuring products geared toward men clustered around Saturday morning or on specific week nights.
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