Dive Brief:
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Liberty Interactive Corporation on Thursday announced it will rename itself "Qurate Retail Group,” which will be official once the company completes the split-off of GCI Liberty, the Alaskan telecommunications company it acquired last year, according to a company press release.
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The company also announced that QVC Inc. CEO Mike George will become president and CEO of Qurate Retail Group, replacing Greg Maffei, who will become chairman.
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The changes will also entail a re-branding that includes a new logo to be unveiled at a later date, the company said.
Dive Insight:
This rebrand will be the culmination of a multi-year evolution for QVC Group, the company said last week. Each of its eight businesses — which include QVC, HSN, zulily, Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Grandin Road and Improvements — will maintain a distinct consumer brand, logo and shopping experience under the new organization’s umbrella.
As Qurate Retail Group, the organization will serve 23 million customers worldwide and will have 27,000 team members in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Poland and China. In 2017, Qurate Retail Group generated pro-forma revenue of $14 billion. Profitability, however, has remained a concern.
It’s a culmination of an expansion that began with the company’s original TV shopping position, first with HSN (which the company completely took over last year with its acquisition of HSNi) and then with the addition of QVC. Its 2015 acquisition of Zulily helped expand into e-commerce, and the company's takeover of Cornerstone delivered home and apparel lifestyle brands including Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Grandin Road and Improvements.
QVC has earned high marks for delivering some of the retail industry's best overall customer experience, according to rankings assembled last year by research firm Temkin Group. Ace, BJ's and QVC tied for the top spot out of the 48 retailers in this year's report, each earning a score of 81% and coming in 8th place overall out of 331 companies across 20 industries.
The company has effectively created a powerhouse player across digital channels. HSNi had been enjoying a turnaround under CEO Mindy Grossman, who left last year to lead Weight Watchers but had positioned the company to take advantage of today's omnichannel expectations. While HSN is known for its once ground-breaking TV retail (a still-thriving channel), the company has expanded online and added augmented reality and gamification. Zulily co-founder Darrell Cavens will lead a New Ventures team, focused on accelerating innovation, developing inventive retail concepts and looking beyond the organization's current business for growth opportunities, Qurate Retail Group said last week.
