Tag Archives: HSN

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Tampa Bay Times: HSN executives seek digital solution to TV, shopping challenges

 

In the wake of the departure of CEO Mindy Grossman, St. Petersburg-based HSN is seeking to build on digital initiatives that began under her watch. [Courtesy of HSN Inc.]

By Justine Griffin

ST. PETERSBURG — Before there was Amazon and phone apps that promise one-hour delivery, there was the Home Shopping Network.

Similar to its competitor QVC, the company now known as HSN was an innovator in reaching new audiences during live broadcasts on its cable television channel and even online. Over most of the last 11 years, the company flourished under the leadership of Mindy Grossman, a veteran retail executive who polished the St. Petersburg-based company’s image and added to its line of high profile partnerships with celebrities and fashion brands.

But times change. HSN is not immune to the challenges nearly all retailers face these days. They too are struggling to compete with nimble, digital competitors like Amazon and others that continue to surge ahead in sales and innovation. Even Grossman, who announced just last month that she had accepted the job of CEO and president of Weight Watchers International, couldn’t stem the bleeding of the retailer’s tumbling profits over the last year.

“The economy overall is moving toward digital. It’s vicious in a lot of ways. If you can’t keep up with the likes of Amazon, you’re going to be destroyed,” said Budd Margolis, a TV shopping consultant based in London. “I worry that TV shopping is at the beginning of the end. Companies are not being aggressive enough.”

HSN executives see the writing on the wall. In the wake of Grossman’s high profile departure, the company’s remaining executive team continue to build on the digital initiatives that began under her watch.

Read more here.

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HSN featured jewelry company accused of cheating its artisans

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Tampa Bay Times, Feb. 5, 2017, A1 

By Justine Griffin

People tuning in to HSN might think they’re supporting a good cause by purchasing a lapis bracelet from Bajalia International Group, an Orlando company that employs female artisans in developing countries like Afghanistan and India.

What shoppers don’t see on their TV screens is the sometimes ruthless business arrangements between Bajalia and its artisans, the company’s history of short-changing its craftswomen or the checkered financial past of the company’s founder and CEO.

On air at HSN, Debbie Farah is portrayed as a savior for women in poor and developing nations who produce the natural gemstone necklaces and beaded bracelets that Farah’s company sells online and on HSN, the popular television retailer based in St. Petersburg.

A follow up story published on March 17, 2017, when HSN dropped Bajalia from its programming. The story was featured on WSTP Ch. 10’s Sunday Conversation.

Read the original investigation here.

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Tampa Bay Times: Inventors try pitch their way onto HSN in entrepreneur contest

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times.

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Don Kobasky slouched in a chair in front of a training room inside an HSN studio in St. Petersburg. He was the only one of more than a dozen who did not seem nervous to be there.

He stood out in his neon yellow T-shirt and wore sunglasses on his head. The other contestants wore high heels and sharp dresses or suits. Kobasky had dried paint flecks under his fingernails. Unlike more than 70 other contestants who flew or drove from all over the country to get to HSN’s headquarters last week, Kobasky lives right down the street.

In the training room, the contestants listened to advice on pitching their products from HSN employees, including Bill Green, who has worked on-air at the company for more than 20 years. Green told contestants to sell their story. He told them to show off their personality. He warned them not to say things like “ladies” and “girls” on-air, which can alienate some viewers.

“What about sugar mama?” Kobasky asked.

Read more in the Tampa Bay Times here.