QVC Promotes Ken O’Brien To Senior Vice President Of Merchandising

It looks like the other shoe may have dropped in terms of filling the duties of former QVC U.S. President Claire Watts.

The No. 1 home shopping network Ken O’Brien to the position of senior vice president of merchandising. O’Brien is responsible for setting and executing QVC’s merchandising strategy for product brands across categories, as well as leading the engagement and management of QVC’s vendor community.

O’Brien’s elevation follows QVC’s promotion last month of Mary Campbell to the executive vice president of U.S. Commerce Platforms. She is responsible for guiding the strategic direction of the company’s TV, web, mobile, tablet and social while translating the QVC brand across all platforms to drive customer engagement and e-commerce sales.

And both these promotions follow the abrupt departure of Watts. When Campbell was promoted, we suggested that she was perhaps Watts’ replacement. But someone pointed out that Campbell did not have Watts’ merchandising responsibilities. Perhaps O’Brien will take on that role.

O’Brien will continue to report to Doug Howe, executive vice president of merchandising and planning of QVC U.S.

“At QVC, we curate an ever-changing mix of high-quality products, brought to life through storytelling by our hosts, product experts, celebrities, entrepreneurs and business owners,” Howe said in a canned statement. “With Ken’s solid track record of driving strong results, QVC will continue to bring the joy of discovery to millions of homes by offering brands that surprise and inspire our customers.”

Here’s the blurb on O’Brien:

Since joining QVC in 2000, O’Brien has held merchandising roles of increasing responsibility. In his most recent role as Vice President of Merchandising, he helped drive growth in QVC’s home products category by leading the merchandising strategy for QVC’s line-up of household, kitchen and cooking products.

Prior to that, as the Director of Merchandising for home products, O’Brien created strategies to elevate QVC’s kitchen electric and gift areas by introducing new brands, concepts and categories. He was also instrumental in developing QVC’s brand acquisition strategy for home products, by procuring and introducing notable household names, such as Keurig, Dyson and Vitamix.