In our previous segment we pulled aside the curtain to see what it took to keep the cameras at HSN rolling on a typical day. However, as we tour the Quality Assurance (“QA”) facility, it rapidly becomes clear that the fuss around the cameras is just the tip of the iceberg. The facility is an expansive extension of a gigantic warehouse packed with products from all over the world, with 2,600+ new products per month. 50% of the products are imported, the other half are domestic, and all of them go through an exhaustive testing process before they even have a prayer to get on the air.
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“QA” is all about ensuring that the form, fit, finish, and function of all products on the network are flawless and HSN brings the scientific method to bare at every step of the way. We are guided to an area where a dozen or so HSN employees are busy putting products through their paces. In the fully operational kitchen, a woman conducts a “standard egg release test” on a non-stick skillet, essentially frying up eggs on the pan to see if it lives up to its promise. Counterfeit safety stickers are also a concern and many a shoddy cake tin has melted in the oven during tests. A synthetic christmas tree, complete with lights, sits in the middle of it all. What better way to see if the bulbs last or if the branches catch on fire than to plug the thing in for weeks at a time?
Ed, an HSN tester, watches 3D TV off to the side. But he is not slacking off, it is his job to analyze and identify the best 3D TVs, and other electronics, on the market. Selling second rate stuff is not an option, but the feedback process is constructive. HSN wants to sell the products it receives, so a typical item usually receives a “good” or a “good but…” verdict. They then work with the item’s designers to get the object in question up to standard. If all goes well, a newly arrived product makes it to the screen after two years.
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We chat with Christie, an unsung arts and crafts hero. She designs the arts and crafts “build it yourself” kits for saleonHSN. For example, if you’ve ever ordered a ready to assemble photo album kit off HSN, Christie was probably the one who picked out and compiled every aspect of the kit. It is strangely humbling to be the presence of this friendly arts and crafts guru who has anonymously affected thousands, if not millions, of people around the world.
We walk past a room where a model poses in HSN apparel. Forget the skeletal model stereotype, these clothes are for the typical HSN viewer, and the models are the “friendly mom from next door” type. Things get wilder in the back where the delivery simulators are kept. These intimidating machines are loaded with products and mimic the movement of postal trucks, UPS trucks, airplanes, a sudden drop, and other likely situations that products would have to survive during delivery. Think mechanical bulls from hell. But the most sophisticated machinery is in the fully equipped lab where the jewelry is scrutinized. The lab is complete with microscopes and mass spectrometers that can verify the true elemental composition of a piece. Want to know if a bracelet is really silver? This lab can find the answer. They also give feedback for improvements to the design of jewelry. We are shown a jade necklace prototype that kept twisting when worn. They recommended adding more beads to the piece, and the new version lies flat on one’s chest like it is supposed to.
HSN has come a long way from the Home Shopping Network days and is on a furious upward trajectory. The journey of a product from creation, delivery to the QA facility, to air is a harrowing process, but the logic makes sense. HSN needs what they sell to stack up, otherwise the consumer’s trust would be broken and the network would be doomed. Every three piece basket set on the air represents years of work and 2,000+ full-time employees’ efforts. Watch a segment of HSN and keep this article series in your mind. There is more to selling Huggable Hangers than we ever could’ve imagined.
Article by Norris Comer, Editor/Writer for iLovetheburg.com
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