The QVC UK marketing director tells Tim Healey how the shopping broadcaster is translating trust, intimacy and discovery from television to TikTok Shop, creator studios and real-world experiences without losing its loyal core.
What are the key stepping stones in your career that have led you to the role you’re in today?
I’ve had over 20 years’ experience in building and scaling fashion and beauty brands in the UK. I started on the shop floor, 24 years ago and that is where I became obsessed with customers: learning everything about them, understanding the customer experience.
I thought I want to be part of this, I want to influence what customers are buying and how it makes them feel. I had a career in buying for big retailers, such as Asos and Arcadia, before founding and growing my own beauty brand. I spent my career innovating, always being in growth roles.
That experience has taught me that the customers are the heart of everything I do. Since joining QVC, I’ve really wanted to marry my entrepreneurial spirit and heritage of the DNA of an established brand. It has made a pretty good partnership so far.
What’s the offer at QVC?
At its core, we offer a curation of products across home, fashion, beauty, electronics, and jewelry, but ultimately this is all driven by video commerce – on every screen, from your TV screen to your smartphone.
Our real product isn’t just what we sell – it is storytelling, it’s connection with our presenters, offering an immersive relationship. They’re guided by authentic experts that really know the categories that they’re in, and that for us is at the heart of everything we do.
We remove friction, so we back up everything with our customer service policy, a unique 60-day money-back guarantee, which allows a new generation of shoppers to buy from us with absolute confidence.
What’s coming up for QVC in 2026/27?
We’ve had a busy year so far. Since our launch on TikTok Shop in 2025/26, we have shared over 185 live shopping events and seven Mega Lives. These have attracted over 30,000 new shoppers. TikTok is the platform where we scale our social commerce.
We’ve also launched our new in-house social commerce studios at our Chiswick Park headquarters in London. The studios have been designed at the front of the building with glass fronts which allow passers by to watch creators in action, delivering their content.
When they opened, we also hosted our first-ever beauty retail pop-up in the heart of Covent Garden, called Glowtopia and had QVC customers & passers-by see QVC live in action.
We want to build on this over the next couple of years. We need to show up where the customer is, and offer them creative, immersive experiences, and give them an opportunity to connect with us.
We’ve also continued our partnership with BBC Gardeners’ World, which I started in my first year at QVC. This summer marks our third year exhibiting. We know a large slice of our customers love gardening, so we wanted to show up where our customers who love gardening are.
We were a key sponsor and this allows us to bring our ‘My Garden Escape’ platform to life through stunning show gardens, interactive shopping, and live expert presentations at major events.
QVC also sponsors feature gardens. In year one, we won a gold for our show garden, which was incredible. In year two, we went bigger and better: we tripled the space of our show garden, took more space, and we won platinum for our show garden that year. The space was called ‘Reflective Retreat’ and was designed by Kitti Kovacs to showcase outdoor furniture, lighting, and décor.
This year at BBC Gardeners’ World Live we had a new activation space, a stage and key partner brands showing up. We hosted panel talks with experts about garden design and how to style your garden.
QVC presenters led those panel talks which landed really well with our customers. Gardening is huge for us – and for me. It’s the emotional connection to a garden that’s so important, and why it’s worked for us.
Of course, we invite attendees to ‘shop the look’. Attendees can easily scan QR codes on display items within the show gardens to buy featured plants, tools, and furniture on QVC. The partnership extends beyond physical events with regular livestreams, workshops, and expert plant-care tips available on the QVC UK My Garden Escape hub.
When we do these events, I’ll personally spend hours talking to gardeners coming through to our stand and understanding why they are so passionate about their gardens. It’s linked to well-being, which is a massive initiative for us.
We’re also showing up at the RHS Royal Sandringham in mid-July, where hopefully we get to meet King Charles. All of these garnered-focused activities help us better connect with our customers and allow us to be there for them in a really authentic way.
Tell me a bit more about the QVC x TikTok launch?
Recently, TikTok held its first-ever Super Brand Day. We had a huge success in our pilot last year, and we’re really backing it as a business. QVC has been in your home, via your television, for over 30 years. Now we want to be in your pockets on your mobile screen.
In your opinion, what makes a successful presenter brand partnership work?
Two things: absolute authenticity and shared values. Our partnerships rely on the presenters to have big and unfiltered personalities because they’re experts in their category. We trust them, and we really believe that the connection fails if it is overly scripted or filtered too transactionally.
We’ve got to capture the magic of what we’ve done for so long on broadcast TV and make sure we have that in all of our other channels. The presenters are interacting live with the audience, calling out viewers by name and responding to real-time feedback, all of which helps to build more trust and reliability.
How do you present ‘QVC liveness and intimacy’ as you move to digital and streaming?
When we have built that trust for over 30 years, we have to translate that energy to our new platforms. We want to preserve intimacy by remaining unscripted. Our studios have been deliberately designed in smaller setups with the glass front as I explained – this brings creatives and the public closer together.
That real focus on the live community in our streams really gives them behind-the-scenes moments. Therefore, we can echo what we are, what we believe in, and what we’re offering as a brand.
What’s different about the psychology of real-time buying versus planned e-commerce shopping?
When we shop online, when it’s planned e-commerce, that is highly functional, it is search-driven, you’re scanning and you want to fill a need. In contrast with the real-time social commerce at QVC there is more discovery and emotional connection. Lots of competitors fulfill demand; we create it, and it is most likely fuelled by what we deliver through live interaction, followed by the lead storyteller’s presentation with the presenters.
How do you grow younger audiences without losing your loyal core?
We are not trying to reinvent who we are. We just want to change where we show up. We want to go where the customer is and reflect how the landscape is changing. Interestingly, our TikTok shop pilot data showed that 80% of our audience is female and over 35. So TikTok allows us to honour our loyal core by maintaining trust and quality, but also organically picking up younger customers through that platform.
Could you tell us about a customer research discovery that you’ve made that you found surprising?
The TikTok QVC demographic blew my mind: our TikTok shop customers are typically over 35 – and not Gen Z. 80% of our new customers on this platform are over 35. It’s just another indicator of the strong growth platform we have on TikTok.
What marketing achievement in your career are you most proud of?
The Studio 70 launch for QVC: we officially launched on-air and online in mid-April 2026. The retro, 1970s-inspired line was introduced through a series of special broadcasts and exclusive media and customer preview events at the art’otel rooftop in London.
The collection brought the glamour, vibrant energy, and relaxed vibes of the 70s to homes and wardrobes. The launch included the ‘Garden Stories’ range – statement-making, retro-styled garden furniture, bold patterned scatter cushions, and vibrant outdoor decor.
The edit featured designer pieces, including the Ben de Lisi fashion and swimwear line, as well as the BundleBerry by Amanda Holden collection. ‘The look’ was Marrakesh-meets-Ibiza aesthetic with earthy tones, playful patterns, and easy-to-layer holiday and home essentials.
I led the Garden team and our strategic initiative. It was the first time that QVC delivered a brand out-of-home campaign. It was a really proud moment, because we’re making history in the world of QVC UK, because that for us is a massive step up in marketing and how we want to move forward as a business and also how I want to lead the team.
Can you tell us about a challenge you’re facing right now, and what advice you might give to other marketers who are facing that challenge?
We face challenges every day but the wider environment is tough for consumers. Considered purchase is getting harder, and where they spend, how they spend. Knowing your audience, such as Gen X – understanding them, what are they buying, how are we buying for them.
We need to optimize how we speak to our target customers: how we show up to her, what’s important to her life at any moment, being where she is and understanding that she is on TikTok Shop. What products can we show her? How do we speak to her?
In summary, our approach is to immerse ourselves in the lives and behaviors of our customers, which breaks down into understanding your audience and ensuring that your strategy speaks to them.
Drawing on your leadership expertise, what has your career taught you that helps to make a great team?
I believe in creating space for teams to explore innovation. My teams need to be really passionate, and then I make sure that they have the space to make mistakes and learn from them. Never ever stand still, always move forward.
I have learned from experience in buying and brand building that we always need to be moving forward: what’s the next thing? How can we improve things?
What question would you like me to ask the next senior marketer when I interview them?
When budgets tighten, what should marketers protect at all costs?
Your question from the last senior marketer I interviewed is: why do you think that marketing isn’t as respected as other disciplines in business?
I really like this question. Marketing has such a vast scope. We have to deal with intangible metrics, such as brand awareness, which can be difficult to communicate to the wider business, and even harder for them to understand.
I pride myself on being a commercial leader. I can integrate myself into the wider business. I understand what they need to hear, and I do the work to understand our customer and our teams. I balance that creative lens with the commercial lens. When we’re looking at ways to innovate, I always make sure we communicate results to the stakeholders and the board, and make sure that I take them on the journey with me. They need to understand exactly why we are doing these initiatives and activities.
There’s a need to manage expectations. You need to back yourself and your strategy, explaining why the business is doing this. Certain things might see results straight away, other things, like improvements in brand awareness, might take time to come to fruition.
If there’s one thing you know about marketing it is?
Treat every customer touchpoint as if it’s the shop window to your brand. Prioritize consistency and what you stand for to ensure the customer has a connected experience that builds trust. This is what I really believe in and I’ll bang this drum forever. I don’t think this will ever change.
This interview is brought to you in partnership with Worth Your While – an independent creative agency based in Copenhagen, working globally. Named one of The Drum’s Indie Agency Top 100, WYW exists on the belief that time is humanity’s most valuable resource, and that the only ideas worth making are ones that earn it. You might die tomorrow. Make today worth your while. https://wyw.agency/
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