QVC Owner to Pay $2.4 Billion for Online Shopping Site

Mike George, CEO of QVC, will new responsibilities after the deal is completed.

QVC is getting a new e-commerce partner.

QVC’s parent company Liberty Interactive Corp. has announced that it will pay $2.4 billion for Zulily, an e-commerce site specializing in limited-time sales of toys, clothes and apparel aimed at millennial moms. The company will join West Chester, Pa.-based QVC Group to bolster its digital e-commerce platform.

With $1 billion in annual net sales in the past five years, and 56 percent of its orders placed over mobile devices, Zulily adds some serious firepower to QVC — even though sales had been slumping recently, the Wall Street Journal reported. Combined, QVC and Zulily have annual revenues of more than $10 billion with 230 million units shipped globally to 19 million customers in 85 countries.

Zulily will remain based in Seattle and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

With the move, QVC CEO Mike George is being appointed to the executive committee of the Liberty Interactive board of directors. George sat down with BizPhilly for an expansive interview, where he discussed the death of Joan Rivers, the rise of Shark Tank‘s Lori Greiner and how the TV retailing business has stayed relevant in the Internet age. Read it here.

Zulily aims its fashion, apparel and toy offerings primarily at young mothers through its desktop, mobile websites and mobile apps. Both organizations hope the deal will help bolster product lineups, brand portfolios, and vendor networks.

QVC will look to leverage Zulily’s technologies, which use historical and real-time data to customize customer offerings and enhance engagement. QVC also sees opportunities to utilize Zulily’s digital content production system — something QVC calls “extraordinarily agile and efficient.” Meanwhile, Zulily gets access to QVC’s video expertise and customer finance systems.

George said in a statement that: “As online shopping evolves, this partnership brings together two high-performing and highly-complementary leaders in e-commerce. We look forward to welcoming the talented Zulily team to the QVC Group as our shared values and beliefs create an incredibly strong foundation for us to collaborate across all aspects of the business and transform how we serve customers in new, digital-first ways.”