Is this the end of impulse shopping?

The chief executive of QVC Group, David Rawlinson II, on tariffs, TikTok, and other threats to the company's future.

- Jordyn Holman

Onset at QVC on a recent weekday afternoon, the hosts in the studio kitchen were marveling at a vegetable chopper's many functions.

The cucumbers were sliced perfectly, and the presenters were all smiles.

Off camera, things were more complicated.

US President Donald Trump had raised tariffs on Chinese goods to more than 100%, a huge blow to retailers that get a lot of their stock from China, like QVC.

The stock market was swinging wildly. Consumer confidence was sinking. The Chug & Sip water bottle pitched as that day's deal - $39.98 (about 1,300 baht) for a pair, down from $48-wasn't selling.

QVC, which started broadcasting in 1986, built its business on one of America's favourite pastimes: impulse shopping. The network now runs 15 channels, including HSN. Last year, its 17,000 employees fielded nearly 80 million calls and shipped almost 200 million products.

Since 2021, David Rawlinson II has been chief executive of QVC, which stands for Quality, Value and Convenience. “Those things will only be more important in a world where the consumer demand is depressed or a world where there’s disruption because of tariffs,” he said, sitting on a soundstage that resembled an airy living room at the company’s studios in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

QVC was already under pressure from the decline of cable TV — its main channels reach about 45 percent fewer homes than in 2018. And more recently, TikTok, which allows users to buy directly from its app, is pulling shoppers away. In March, the company said it would lay off 5 percent of its workers and consolidate production at the studio in Pennsylvania.

QVC this month announced a partnership with TikTok, making it the first American brand to livestream around the clock on the platform.

The news was quickly overshadowed when, hours later, Trump unveiled tariffs on nearly every country, on what he called “Liberation Day.”