Shots Fired: Amazon Taking on QVC and Home Shopping Network

If you haven’t been paying attention to Amazon lately, besides buying Whole Foods and releasing new smart devices, today marks their third annual Prime Day; a day of epic deals in every category exclusively for Prime Members. Marketed as the Black Friday of the summer, some deals are limited to a few hours and others are available all day.

In true Amazon style, they couldn’t help buy keep some secrets hidden for throughout the day. Earlier they did a big push on Alexa ordering with an exclusive deal on Ray Bans. Now, they are doing live video deal reveals on the main Prime Day Deal page (click the video in the top right corner if it doesn’t display right away. The video format and deals are very comparable to and reminiscent of QVC style infomercials. Fast paced, and sales forward, the hosts are pushing these products for a full hour.

Deal Guy Matt Granite is bringing deals every five minutes. He is enthusiastically points out that prices can change on demand in the carousel below the video at any time and inventory WILL sell out.

Is this a direct reaction to the recent announcement of a merge between QVC and Home Shopping Network? I think so. They’re slinging polarized sunglasses, portable pedicure machines, and vegetable spiralizers. My question is if this has been planned for a while, or just recently planned with the merger announcement last week.

As more consumers cut the cord, and shop online, it has been a hard transition for companies like QVC to adapt. Now it looks like Amazon is poised to take them on head to head. This would not be surprising with Aomazon’s increased focus on developing their video platform and in home devices. Don’t be surprised to see these types of videos appearing on your Fire TVs soon.

Good or bad? The verdict is still out for me.