TV and web site team up in QVC football jersey promotion

QVC last month used the 20th anniversary of its “Today’s Special Value” home shopping TV show to promote online sales of personalized National Football League jerseys and sold 9,000 of them in one day on QVC.com. It was a record for one-day sales of NFL jerseys for GSI Commerce Inc., QVC’s e-commerce platform provider.

“This is a true multi-channel success story,” says Robert Myers, senior vice president of QVC.com, which is No. 14 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. “The NFL customized jersey presented us with a terrific opportunity to leverage the strengths of our on-air and online channels. On air we were able to create excitement and awareness in a way that few retailers can, and online we were able to provide the customer with the ability to preview their customized jersey before purchasing it.”

QVC offered the jerseys for $59 for youth and women’s sizes and $79 for men’s sizes.

QVC and GSI earlier this year announced an alliance in which QVC became the NFL’s “official television retailer” and will present several NFL-themed TV shopping shows this season. GSI, which provides e-commerce services to NFLShop.com, provides NFL-branded merchandise to QVC.

GSI says the number of personalized jerseys sold during the QVC promotion last month “more than doubled our initial sales estimate.”