FEATURE
The Experiential
Shopping Guru Tashi Jade Bellby sitsXxxx down with Judy Deuchar, xxxxxxx General Manager of TVSN, to find out firsthand what it takes to ‘make or break’ a beauty brand on a television shopping network.
Judy Deuchar
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tarting in jewellery retail and buying for the Foschini group, Judy Deuchar has been in the business of “experiential shopping” for at least 25 years. Judy worked for QVC (Quality, Value, Convenience) in the UK from 1997 until 2011. QVC is an American free-to-air television network, and flagship shopping channel specialising in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group, which is available in the US and UK and is the third largest retailer in the world after Amazon and Walmart. Judy was then headhunted by TVSN and has been working with TVSN since 2014. Wellknown and respected in the beauty industry worldwide, Judy has even been a judge at the illustrious Cosmoprof Awards. TVSN has one of the highest percentages of returning customers amongst its competitors, so you know Judy is definitely an expert in picking what sells! Formerly family-owned, TVSN has, of April 1, 2022 taken on a majority Private Equity investor, CHAMP (or CVP). Incidentally, I helped design and rollout CHAMP’s Investment Fund Structure into Australia (and the Southeast Asian area) when I was still working as a lawyer, years ago. But I’ll save my knowledge on private/venture capital investment in beauty for another article. With the rise of “influencer marketing” and social medial platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, brands are beginning to see the power of video marketing a.k.a. “V Commerce”. People showing you what a product looks like and how it performs. TVSN has been at the forefront of this from the get-go in Australia (TVSN even has an app that you can download and stream videos from). What makes TVSN stand out from the Instagrammers, Youtubers and TikTokers is that it is filmed in “real time” and 58| RETAIL BEAUTY WINTER 2022
there is NO TIME for edits and/or filters! What you see is really what you get on TVSN. I’ve been there to witness this and you can be sure with TVSN, you are getting a 100% true raw unfiltered experience. One of TVSN’s famous tagline is “Where Beauty Begins”. This could not be truer. TVSN has incubated several brands that are now famous worldwide. One standout example is Silk Oil of Morocco (SOFM). SOFM started when the founder (Shirley Piscina?), who was then selling wigs on TVSN, was asked by a TVSN team member if she could create a line of haircare using Argan Oil. This gave birth to SOFM’s first product, a skin and hair treatment using the best Argan Oil available. SOFM has now grown immensely and even has its own makeup, homeware and accessories line. This neatly segues into the next burning question I had for Judy. “How does TVSN choose what products to sell?”. TVSN has a dedicated beauty buyer, but final approval must come from Judy first before it gets on to TVSN. She is the expert in knowing what sells and what doesn’t. With online shopping, the customers’ retail experience has changed significantly. There is so much that is easily available to
We don’t carry every product from each brand but carefully selected products that we know will fit our customers’ profiles.
