Steven Goldsmith had barely taken the chair as president of The Shopping Channel nine months ago when he asked whether the specialty channel could continue to grow, or was already over-penetrated. After all, the Rogers Media channel was popular with Canadian women, and profitable.

But market saturation would slow prospects for growth. In the end, Goldsmith and his team discovered the channel was, if anything, under-penetrated in the Canadian market.

“Our customers absolutely love us. And a lot of women don’t even know about us,” he explains.

Put another way, Canadian women had embraced the digital world, and The Shopping Channel just wasn’t keeping pace.

“We didn’t have shopping apps. We did not have a great mobile experience. We did not have a great experience on a computer for her to watch us live,” Goldsmith recalls.

That was a big hurdle to overcome because home shopping is about making the buying experience easy.

And the rise of online shopping has upended the average Canadian’s shopping experience, creating new challenges and opportunities for multi-channel retailers.

So to solve the awareness problem, Goldsmith and his team decided the TV channel needed to introduce itself to a whole new audience.

As part of this, The Shopping Channel is rolling out new mobile apps and on-air social media engagement as part of an overall rebranding that goes a long way to explain the digital curve the traditional TV channel is looking to get round.

The new TSC app for iPhone, iPad and mobile platforms will enable viewers to purchase products whenever, and wherever they choose.

The Shopping Channel revamp also includes a new logo, with 3D design to complement the brand’s evolution, new on-air graphics and a newly-designed studio, which includes a new chef’s kitchen for celebrity guests like Wolfgang Puck, Lynn Crawford and Mark McEwen.

The TV channel is also making more use of its star presenters by introducing weekly segments like Destination Style, Destination Beauty and Host Picks.

The Shopping Channel is also cutting back on on-screen graphics to accommodate social media interaction, as viewer tweets and comments are scrolled across the screen.

And the channel will make it easier for Canadian women to shop, as it reduces shipping costs for big purchases, and makes it easier to return goods.

From Playback Daily