QVC is a television network and flagship shopping channel owned by Qurate Retail Group that specializes in televised home shopping. QVC was established in 1986 by Joseph Segel. It broadcasts to over 350 million households in seven countries, including channels in the Japan, United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany. It, however, has competitors offering similar services, they are:
#1. HSN
- Founded: 1982
- Headquarters: St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
Need to know
HSN (https://www.hsn.com) was established in 1982 by Lowell Bud Paxson and Roy Speer as the Home Shopping Club. Three years later, on July 1, 1985, it became the first national shopping network, changing its name to the Home Shopping Network and pioneering the concept of a televised sales pitch for consumer goods and services. The following year, its competitor and future owner, QVC, was founded. Mindy Grossman, the CEO of HSN, stepped down in April 2017 to become the CEO of Weight Watchers.
Across broadcast, streaming, mobile, and social platforms, QVC and HSN are world leaders in video commerce, providing compelling, interactive shopping experiences for millions of customers and large audiences for thousands of vendors. In addition to the United States, the home shopping network (HSN) has sister networks in a number of other countries. HSN’s first order-taking system was written in the LINC 10 fourth-generation language on a Burroughs Large System mainframe.
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#2. Pitchbook
- Founded: 2007
- Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, United States
Need to know
PitchBook (https://www.pitchbook.com) was founded in 2007 by John Gabbert. It received a $4.25 million investment from angel investors and Morningstar in 2009. Morningstar signed a comprehensive agreement to buy PitchBook in December 2016, paying about $180 million for the remaining stake in a deal that valued PitchBook at $225 million. PitchBook’s brand and identity are preserved, and the company’s founder and CEO, John Gabbert, remains in charge. It employed about 1,000 people worldwide as of October 2019, including full-time contractors.
Pitchbook, like QVC, is an e-commerce platform. The PitchBook Platform, the company’s main offering, contains analytical tools that help users make sense of the data it collects about businesses, investors, deals, mergers and acquisitions, funds, advisers, and people. Through its daily email and quarterly reports, the business also provides commentary and analysis on current events, trends, and challenges affecting the capital markets.
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#3. Thompson Reuters
- Founded: April 17, 2008
- Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Need to know
Thomson Reuters (https://www.thomsonreuters.com) was established in 2008 by Roy Thomson, the publisher of The Timmins Daily Press. Thomson Reuters was a dual-listed company with two publicly traded parent companies: Thomson Reuters plc and Thomson Reuters Corporation. It merged its dual-listed business structure in 2009 and delisted from both the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. On the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange, it is now known just as Thomson Reuters Corporation.
Marketplace, a radio show produced by American Public Media, is sponsored by Thomson Reuters. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were also donated to the Clinton Foundation by Thomson Reuters and other media companies. Thomson Reuters subscriptions compete with open access options such as Unpaywall, which might help offset the increase in subscription fees.
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4. Amazon
- Founded: July 5, 1994
- Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, U.S
Need to know
Amazon (https://www.amazon.com) was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. It is the world’s largest AI assistant provider, online marketplace, live-streaming platform, and cloud computing platform. Amazon went public in May 1997. In 1998, it began selling music and films, and in 1999, it expanded globally by purchasing online book vendors in the United Kingdom and Germany. The next year, Amazon began offering video games, home improvement items, consumer goods, games, software, and toys.
Amazon’s subsidiaries Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video, Audible, and Twitch provide a range of streaming and downloaded material. Amazon includes a film and television studio called Amazon Studios, a publishing division called Amazon Publishing, and a cloud computing division called Amazon Web Services. It makes Fire TVs, Fire tablets, Kindle e-readers, and Echo gadgets, among other things. Zoox, Whole Foods Market, Ring, IMDb, and Twitch are among the companies it has acquired throughout the years.
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#5. Bloomberg
- Founded: October 1, 1982
- Headquarters: 731 Lexington Avenue, New York City
Need to know
Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com) was founded in 1981 by Michael Bloomberg with the help of Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar. Bloomberg created and built his own computerized system to provide Wall Street corporations with financial computations. The corporation was renamed Bloomberg L.P. in 1986. With Matthew Winkler as editor-in-chief, Bloomberg created Bloomberg Business News, then Bloomberg News, in 1990. Since its inception, Bloomberg L.P. has remained a private firm, with billionaire Michael Bloomberg owning the bulk of the stock.
Bloomberg L.P., unlike QVC, delivers financial software tools and enterprise applications to financial corporations and organizations through the Bloomberg Terminal, its key revenue-generating offering. These include analytics and stock trading platforms, data services, and news. Bloomberg L.P. also owns a wire service, a global television network, websites, radio stations, subscription-only newsletters, and two publications: Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Markets.
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#6. ShopHQ
- Founded: 1990
- Headquarters: Eden Prairie, MN, US
Need to know
ShopHQ (https://www.shophq.com) was founded in 1990 by iMedia Brands, Inc. Value Vision Media was the company’s original name. In 2013, ValueVision Media purchased NBCUniversal’s financial share in the channel. The network was rebranded ShopHQ that same year. In 2014, the network ran Mark Cuban’s American Dream, which was part of a drive by the Clinton Group to showcase more celebrity hosts. The ShopHQ network was renamed EVINE Live on February 13, 2015. On August 21, 2019, the television network reverted to the ShopHQ moniker. Qurate’s HSN and QVC, as well as Jewelry Television, are the network’s major competitors.
ShopHQ is a multi-channel video store, broadcast and a satellite home shopping television network. In addition to ShopHQ, iMedia has two more networks: Bulldog Shopping Network, which sells men’s products and ShopHQ Health, which sells health and wellness items.
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#7. Zulily
- Founded: December 10, 2009
- Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Need to know
Zulily (https://www.zulily.com) was established in 2009 by Mark Vadon and Darrell Cavens. Zulily first opened its doors on January 27, 2010, with an emphasis on children’s clothing. In the fourth quarter of 2010, Zulily became a cash-flow positive company. Zulily had 2.6 million active users and $331 million in revenue when it went public in November 2013. The firm was valued at $2.6 billion in its first public offering. Zulily was bought by Liberty Interactive’s QVC business for $2.4 billion in August 2015. Zulily released a private-label credit card in September 2017.
Zulily, LLC is an online retailer that sells apparel, shoes, toys, baby gear, and home goods. Zulily’s target demographic consists of women who are looking for distinctive brands and items for their children; they have also been defined as “young, tech-savvy mothers.” They have no inventory and modify their sales every day at 6 a.m. Pacific time.
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#8. Walmart
- Founded: July 2, 1962
- Headquarters: Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S.
Need to know
Walmart (https://www.walmart.com) was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. On October 31, 1969, it was incorporated under the Delaware General Corporation Law. As of October 31, 2021, Walmart had about 10,566 stores and clubs in 24 different countries, operating under distinct names. In the United States the corporation is known as Walmart, whereas in Mexico, it is known as Walmart de México. Since August 2018, Walmart has held just a minority stake in Walmart Brasil. It was rebranded Grupo Big in August 2019, with private equity firm Advent International owning 80% of the company’s shares.
From its headquarters in the United States, Walmart runs a chain of hypermarkets, inexpensive department stores, and grocery stores. Walmart owned and operated Sam’s club retail warehouses.
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#9. Kohl’s
- Founded: September 12, 1962
- Headquarters: Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, U.S.
Need to know
Kohl’s (https://www.kohls.com) was established in 1927 by Polish immigrant Maxwell Kohl. It grew into a successful chain in the area, and the company expanded by opening its first department store in 1962. In May 2012, it surpassed its greatest competitor, J.C. Penney, to become the largest department store chain in the United States. Since 1998, the firm has been a part of both the S & P 500 and the Fortune 500. The business was the 23rd-largest retailer in the United States in terms of revenue in 2019. Kohl’s was the second-largest department store chain in the United States by retail sales in 2013.
Unlike QVC, Diffusion lines from high-end designers like Vera Wang, Dana Buchman, Peter Som, and Narciso Rodriguez are available at Kohl’s store brands. Kohl’s employs a “racetrack” plan, with a single aisle around the whole shop, which is similar to that of bargain retailers.