Dive Deep into the Ever-Evolving World of Retail

Hey, I’m Dipanshi! For Spring ’22, I worked as the Brand Strategy intern for QVC. While the internship was completely remote, I didn’t let that dampen my spirits in the least.

Interestingly, I was the first person to hold the position because it had been created just a semester prior. This came with its own ups and downs––being in a completely new position was exciting because I got to define the role to a certain extent. By expressing interest in the different departments I wanted to work with (and trust me, QVC has a lot of different departments!), I set up meetings with them. QVC calls these meetings “Walk a Miles” and interns are encouraged to create them with people their department interacts with. This is where I learned everything about the different departments, how they operate, and how they interact with the Strategy department.

However, at the same time, being in a position that’s completely new and still being defined can be hard because there are lulls of time where I wouldn’t have enough work because the department wasn’t used to having an intern in their midst. Outside of all this, Qurate Retail Group, QVC’s parent company, was going through a company-wide reorganization of operations. This put another thing on everyone’s plate since they had to adjust to their new roles. Regardless of these issues, even though we were all sitting behind screens at home, everyone on the team went above and beyond to make me feel welcome. Moreover, I was persistent and would ask if anyone wanted help everyday in the chat.

Another positive that came out of this was that I got to work with Justin Melnick, who served (and still serves) as a mentor for me. Taking Account Planning with him was the highlight of my Brand Strategy concentration so I was even more excited to work with him in a professional capacity. He taught me new ways to view strategy and just completely changed the way I think about audiences and how it all relates to strategy.

Retail is an ever-evolving business, especially right now. Due to the pandemic, everything and everyone has moved online––cryptocurrency, streaming services, you name it. For a long time, QVC has been comfortable in the way it operated, through their on-air shows. However, they’ve realized it’s not enough and now have to evolve. So being part of that evolution, even if it was only for 4 months was exciting, to say the least. Everyone is so passionate about the work they do and the things they want to achieve, I can’t help but be inspired.

I’m graduating this semester and I don’t know where I’ll end up but I know I’ll carry this experience forever because strategy is truly useful in not only every aspect of advertising, but every aspect of creating a business and a brand.