Qurate Retail, Inc., in moves to advance its strategy based on expanding live social shopping, made several changes across its executive suite and announced it will close HSN offices and other facilities in St. Petersburg, FL.
Qurate stated that the company is reorganizing its executive team to combine capabilities supporting live shopping in the United States while maintaining distinct brand voices for QVC and HSN. As such, Qurate named Mike Fitzharris as president of the QVC U.S. brand and COO of QRG. In this role, Fitzharris leads content production and broadcast for QVC US and HSN, along with Qurate operations, people and technology. Before moving into his new role, Fitzharris was president of QVC U.S. Chief Information Officer Karen Etzkorn reports to Fitzharris.
Qurate appointed Stacy Bowe as president of HSN brand and U.S. merchandising. In her new role, Bowe leads buying, planning, programming and brand marketing for QVC U.S. and HSN. She previously was president of HSN.
In addition, Eve DelSoldo has been named Qurate executive vice president and general counsel responsible for the company’s legal and communications teams. She previously was Qurate general counsel.
In a related move, Qurate noted that it is recruiting a chief growth officer to lead all U.S. social, streaming, new business development, platform distribution and digital for qvc.com and hsn.com.
Bill Wafford, Qurate CFO, and chief administrative officer continues to lead the global finance team and the transformation offices. Ryan McKelvey, president of Cornerstone Brands, continues to lead Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill and Grandin Road. Aidan O’Meara, president Qurate Retail Group International, continues to lead the company’s retail operations outside of the U.S.
In terms of infrastructure, Qurate will consolidate QVC US and HSN operations in QVC’s longstanding Studio Park, West Chester, PA, location as it closes the veteran HSN St. Petersburg operations. Qurate emphasized it remains committed to the HSN brand as an important part of the company’s portfolio, adding HSN and QVC U.S. will continue to maintain distinct brand voices and focus on growing their distinct customer bases. The decision to centralize broadcast content production provides HSN access to the world-class studios and technology in the West Chester facilities, Qurate reported. As part of the company’s development, Qurate is building a next-generation content engine in Studio Park that can capture content and quickly distribute it on social media, streaming and other channels for HSN and QVC. At the same time, HSN will continue to operate its TV channels, HSN and HSN2, and digital properties, hsn.com and the HSN mobile app.
The company expects HSN to begin live broadcasting from Studio Park by the third quarter.
“As we focus on our growth strategy to lean further into social and streaming, we are redefining who we are as a company and the role we play for our customers,” said David Rawlinson, president and CEO, Qurate Retail, Inc. “With a realigned organizational structure supporting QVC US and HSN together in certain parts of the business, we will work more efficiently, build new capabilities faster by operating together in one location, and unlock an even better customer experience.”
