QVC Sprouts Seeks Entrepreneurs and Innovative Products
Unique Crowdsourced Competition Featured on the TODAY Show
WEST CHESTER, Pa., Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- QVC, Inc., a global leader in video and eCommerce retail, announced today the official launch of QVC Sprouts, an ongoing crowdsourced competition to search for the best up-and-coming products. The program serves as an entry into multiplatform retail for entrepreneurs and inventors and provides an opportunity for them to grow their businesses through a scalable, responsible and nurturing process.
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"QVC Sprouts not only helps us discover unique products and personalities, it provides entrepreneurs and inventors with a much needed platform and distribution method for their products," said Martin Bispels, Vice President of Business Development at QVC. "We've designed the program so that QVC fans can be a part of the journey, voting on the products that they want to see grow from seed to sprout and providing inventors with valuable, real-time feedback."
Unique to QVC Sprouts is the opportunity for inventors to tell the extraordinary stories behind their product to a highly engaged audience and educate them directly on how their product works. Every two weeks, QVC asks fans to vote online on which new product they would most like to see sold on QVC. The inventors who receive the most votes are offered the opportunity to sell their products on QVC.com and, ultimately, the potential to sell on air during a live QVC broadcast. Since the program's pilot launch in March 2012, QVC Sprouts has received an average of 10,000 fan votes per week and has sold more than 50 new products online or on air.
This week, six QVC Sprouts inventors and entrepreneurs will be featured on the TODAY Show, sharing their entrepreneurial journey and showcasing their products. Viewers are invited to vote online at TODAY.com/BrightIdea for their favorite product, and the winner will be announced on Friday, September 20th. The featured inventors and entrepreneurs include: Stephannie Keller and Heidi Valenti with the Blinks Folding Reading Glasses Pendant Necklace; Anne Cork with the Coasterica; Jennifer Briggs with the DrainWig; Raymond Cotton with the fixnZIP; Stacy Struminger and Rachel Teyssier with the RAINRAP; and Eric Zimmermann with Trongs. Immediately following the TODAY Show appearances, the featured products will be available to customers on QVC's website.
Over the past 25 years, QVC has launched and fostered the growth of some of today's most successful brands including Spanx by Sarah Blakely, Junior's Cheesecakes, and Lobster Gram through nationwide product searches like "Quest For America's Best – QVC's 50/50 Tour" and the "Decade of Discoveries Tour." Different than the tours, QVC Sprouts is a year-round program, giving entrepreneurs and inventors an ongoing opportunity to submit their products.
To learn more about QVC Sprouts, visit www.QVCSprouts.com.
About QVC
QVC, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Interactive Corporation (NASDAQ: LINTA), is the world's leading video and ecommerce retailer. QVC is committed to providing its customers with thousands of the most innovative and contemporary beauty, fashion, jewelry and home products. Its programming is distributed to approximately 250 million homes worldwide through operations in the U.S., Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and a joint venture in China. West Chester, Pa.-based QVC has shipped more than a billion packages in its 26-year history and the company's website, QVC.com, is ranked among the top general merchant Internet sites. QVC, Q, and the Q Ribbon Logo are registered service marks of ER Marks, Inc.
SOURCE QVC, Inc.
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