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Profile: Damon Mintzer

Apr 15, 2002  •  Post A Comment

Title: President, Global-QVC Solutions, a division of e-commerce outsource firm Global Sports, whose principal shareholder is home shopping channel QVC.
Background: Before joining Global-QVC when it was founded last summer, Mr. Mintzer spent more than a year as a senior vice president at now defunct Internet startup whn.com. He has previously worked for high-technology services firm Modus Media and printing company R. R. Donnelley and Sons.
A marriage of two companies: The recently formed Global-QVC Solutions is essentially a marriage between shopping channel QVC and Global Sports, which develops and operates e-commerce sites for major Web brands, such as Kmart, Sports Authority and Gart’s. Global-QVC Solutions develops branded products for television networks and their shows, promotes the merchandise through direct response advertising and operates the associated Web stores for its network partners. The products are promoted in on-air spots during the shows for which they are developed, such as the “I Love Lucy” watch that Global-QVC created and showcased during TV Land’s 50-year celebration of the iconic TV show last fall.
“We are selling merchandise to people while watching TV,” he said. “We think there is a phenomenal opportunity to expand this to other networks [beyond QVC] … with merchandise contextual to their network and programming.”
Initial partners: Global-QVC Solutions partners include TV Land, Pax TV, The Golf Channel and Comedy Central. The networks contribute 30-second spots promoting the branded merchandise and directing viewers to either the Web site or an 800 number to make purchases. The networks also receive a portion of the revenues.
The power of QVC: While countless e-commerce ventures have failed, Mr. Mintzer believes QVC’s expertise in transactional TV will make the difference. The company logged $3.9 billion in revenues in 2001, second only to NBC among networks, he said. “What we bring to the table in selling merchandise is our expertise in knowing merchandise that will sell in selling direct to consumers,” he said. The products need to be special, limited-edition or hard-to-get type items to drive purchases, he added.