Qurate Retail Group President and CEO David Rawlinson announced new executive appointments and a new structure as the company pushes continuous operational improvement and deepens differentiated brand experiences across its core video commerce brands in the United States, QVC and HSN, while simultaneously enhancing digital streaming and social elements across the enterprise.
The appointments, Qurate maintained, create separate operating models for QVC U.S. and HSN, including enhancements to each brand’s individual digital and merchandising capabilities.
Qurate named Mike Fitzharris president, QVC U.S. Fitzharris was chief commercial officer for QVC U.S. and HSN, with responsibility for merchandising, planning and programming, and operations, including fulfillment and customer service and experience for both brands.
Quarate appointed Rob Muller president, HSN. Muller previously served as senior vice president, global strategy and business development, for QVC and HSN, with responsibility for accelerating and scaling strategies to bring live and on-demand video shopping experiences to customers across devices and technologies, while promoting daily digital discovery and creating seamless experiences across customer touch points worldwide.
They are each charged with driving growth, innovation and team member engagement for their business segments.
Also, Qurate named Mary Campbell president of a new business unit created to accelerate its efforts in streaming and other live video commerce initiatives, according to the company. Campbell is responsible for building digital revenues separate from QVC’s and HSN’s traditional multi-platform operations. She was chief content, digital and platforms officer, QVC U.S. and HSN, accountable for distribution, content and digital and broadcast platforms for the two businesses.
Qurate reported the new structure strengthens brand differentiation between QVC and HSN, giving each brand team direct control over its own merchandising, planning and programming, brand marketing, broadcast, and e-commerce organizations. The structure will establish clearer lines of accountability and accelerate decision making while maintaining the cost efficiencies gained through the prior integration of the businesses, according to the company.
Qurate has launched a search for a chief operating officer. In a new role for the company, the COO will lead U.S. fulfillment center operations, supply chain, customer support, global business services, procurement and corporate real estate and workplace services. The company also appointed Krystyna Taheri to a new chief of staff position to optimize business processes and its own nascent strategy and business development functions. She joins Qurate from Google, the company noted.
“QVC and HSN are storied brands and are in positions of strength to lead the evolution and proliferation of v-commerce in the U.S.,” Rawlinson said. “This change places our best leaders in positions to execute and accelerate our turnaround efforts. We will be focused and agile as we deliver engaging ways to shop for our customers and other important outcomes for our stakeholders. I am confident that our teams for our flagship QVC US and HSN businesses, along with our shared services teams, will be able to drive innovation and return these brands to growth over time.”
Rawlinson added the new structure and its leadership “will help us better leverage the core strengths of each brand, most notably the large, engaged and highly loyal customer base at each brand. We built both QVC and HSN on the power of live v-commerce experiences, storytelling and curation, which demand highly specific capabilities that other players in retail, e-commerce and media are just starting to develop. That said, we need to move at speed to stay competitive and relevant in this highly dynamic time for retail. Giving each brand more autonomy allows each team to stay on the pulse of its discrete customer base and better anticipate how to evolve to serve them. Further, our new structure will allow our seasoned leadership team to transform, unlock value, and bring these businesses to their full potential.”
