Qurate Retail Group has a long-standing commitment to nurturing entrepreneurs, so that startups can become sustainable sources of income, inspiring others to pursue their dreams. A sustainable way to retail requires we support entrepreneurs of all backgrounds, including women and other under-represented entrepreneurs.
Commit $100 million in total contribution between 2020-2025
With $50 million directed towards women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship
Complete 100,000 team member volunteer hours between 2020-2025
International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month
As a company that recognizes the accomplishments of women every day, we’re excited each March to join the global celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD). In 2021, each of Qurate Retail Group’s brands and markets embraced the IWD theme, “Choose to Challenge,” by celebrating the women in our lives and challenging gender bias and inequality in the world around us. With our customers we spotlighted many women stylemakers and entrepreneurs sharing personal stories of inspiration and empowerment. All through March in honor of IWD and Women’s History Month, QVC, HSN, and Zulily supported women-owned businesses through the Small Business Spotlight and highlighted women-owned businesses within our own vendor base. In addition, our brands held multiple events for our team members internationally during the month, featuring hosting women keynote speakers, workshops, roundtable discussions, and programs focusing on women’s empowerment and success.
“We are delighted to continue our work with Qurate Retail Group to spotlight women-owned businesses this Women’s History Month,” said Rebecca van Bergen, Founder and Executive Director, Nest. “Our ongoing work ensures that thousands of creative entrepreneurs have the tools to both grow their businesses and support their communities and families.”
“The generous support that Qurate Retail Group, along with its women-led brands, provides to Nest makes a huge impact for artisan women around the world who are striving to realize their dreams.”
Rebecca van Bergen, Nest Founder & Executive Director
QRG Fellowship
Another way we support Nest is through our Qurate Retail Group Fellowship Program, launched in 2019. Team members from across our various retail brands and markets leverage their exceptional skills and expertise to make a positive impact on female artisan businesses. By participating in a 10-day immersive experience, team members work alongside female artisans to support their efforts in building their own business. This program helps to position Qurate as a champion of women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship, while helping emerging entrepreneurs and our team members alike realize personal and professional growth. The 2020 program was held virtually, with team members supporting 15 artisan businesses, directly impacting 4,534 artisans and indirectly impacting 21,296 individuals. The total valuation of the pro bono work for 2020 was over $405,000.
“Learning really took place on all fronts – business, philanthropic, philosophic, cultural, etc. It definitely surpassed expectations.”
Qurate Fellow
The Big Find
QVC and HSN help entrepreneurs introduce their brands to millions of people through an international product search called The Big Find, where entrepreneurs, creators and inventors with products in apparel, beauty, culinary, home décor, home innovations and/or electronics are discovered. Selected candidates are invited to pitch their product to a panel of QVC and HSN judges comprised of QVC and HSN merchandising executives and program hosts as well as brand founders from established QVC and HSN brands. Brands awarded “Big Tickets” are invited to continue the product discovery process with us. Successful candidates work with our team to ultimately launch their product on-air and online across our various platforms. We also tap into the expertise of our vendor community to offer mentoring sessions for the winners where they meet with founders and other established entrepreneurial brands to ask questions and receive coaching on live, authentic product storytelling.
In the first two years of the program (2019 and 2020), more than 160 brands were chosen to launch on QVC or HSN through The Big Find, including such brands as Mented Cosmetics (beauty); Sassy Jones (accessories); Modzori (footwear) and Truth & Style (apparel).
Through The Big Find and similar initiatives, QVC and HSN have built a track record of launching and fostering the growth of up-and-coming brands and small businesses by harnessing the power of storytelling and discovery-driven shopping experiences. Over the years, we have helped multiple entrepreneurial brands become national and international success stories, including IT Cosmetics, TATCHA, SPANX®, Junior’s Cheesecake, Korres, and others.
"Participating in The Big Find and becoming a part of the QVC and HSN vendor community has been an incredible journey, allowing us to share our story with a new set of customers and bring our brand to life in a way we would not be able to achieve through traditional retail channels. The teams at QVC and HSN have provided us with invaluable feedback and support and we have already seen strong growth to our business and are looking forward to continued success together."
KJ Miller, Co-Founder, Mented Cosmetics
Small Business Spotlight
Qurate Retail Group and the National Retail Federation (NRF) Foundation are expanding their highly successful Small Business Spotlight initiative to support 100 entrepreneurs of diverse backgrounds in 2021. Through this program, Qurate Retail Group will provide the selected businesses with on-air and/or digital exposure and various other pro-bono in-kind services. The program builds on Qurate Retail Group’s longstanding foundation of supporting small businesses and reflects the company’s and NRF Foundation’s commitment to increasing opportunities for underrepresented groups.
“Through the Small Business Spotlight, we are extending our impact far beyond the many entrepreneurial businesses in our vendor base. We’re proud to offer special support to local small businesses and their communities.”
- Mike George, President and CEO, Qurate Retail, Inc.
QVC Next
Our support of entrepreneurs extends beyond our backyard, to across the Atlantic Ocean through our program, QVC Next®
QVC Next finds high-potential entrepreneurs and helps them use our platforms to bring their innovative products to life. First launched by QVC Italy in 2016, QVC Next was expanded to QVC Germany in 2017 where we offer trainings, workshops, networking and mentoring to entrepreneurs in each market. The program includes a training and empowerment program specifically designed to help entrepreneurs develop their go-to-market strategy. So far, more than 60 entrepreneurs have participated.
Insights for Entrepreneurs
We conducted a survey of 1,000+ women entrepreneurs on the factors that fueled their success and shared the results via a press release, white paper, and our own newsroom and social pages. The survey concluded, among other findings, that choosing the right partnerships and people is the single most important factor in an entrepreneur’s growth as a leader, especially among companies with more than 10 employees. We believe that people who have built successful businesses have important lessons to share with those who are just starting, and we were pleased to offer important insights for rising entrepreneurs.