Flog it! The stars selling their products

There are only two kings as far as I'm concerned: the king of rock'n'roll, which is Elvis, and the king of pop, which is Michael Jackson,' Peter Andre says to an offscreen TV interviewer, before pausing as doubt spreads across his simple face. 'And then Frank Sinatra in a different type of music' He looks away, looks back, and smiles confidently. 'But there you go. There are only very few legends in the world.' He steps over to a simple stage where two guitarists start strumming through the opening chords of his latest single, 'Perfect Night'. A white bar fills the bottom of the screen: 'Peter Andre Perfect Night. Enhanced CD Single. Item number 565519. Call 0800 504030 to place an order.' Peter Andre's legend, it turns out, is unfolding on QVC. Because since MTV became a reality channel and the chart shows disappeared, pop stars have been piling into the shopping channel's Battersea studio faster than you can say 'two for the price of one'.

Some people were unimpressed that Andre chose a home shopping channel to launch his summer single. The gossip site Holy Moly wrote him a sarcastic open letter: 'Please don't listen to all those nasty people on the internet who are saying that your appearance on QVC to sell your single yesterday was truly the last resort of a desperate man.' Perhaps they didn't realise that simply everyone's selling on QVC these days: Westlife, Charlotte Church, Chris de Burgh and Glee's Matthew Morrison have all plugged and played, delivering a live studio performance while the price of their latest CD flashes urgently in the corner of the screen.

The Torchwood and West End musicals star John Barrowman kicked off this music industry trend when he begged to sell his CD on the channel back in 2010. With his own QVC membership card and wearing QVC clothes, the housewife's favourite sold 1,000 albums in the first three minutes. That's more than five a second. But he was just the latest name from the world of celebrity out there wooing the sofa shoppers. The channel, and its rivals the Home Shopping Network and, um, Argos TV, have featured Joan Rivers (selling jewellery), Serena Williams (also jewellery), Iman (shoes and handbags), Liza Minnelli (more jewellery), Twiggy (skincare), Molly Sims (jewellery), Queen Latifah (fashion and accessories) and Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs (fragrance, bathrobes and albums). Even the US reality tele-vision megastars the Kardashian sisters have been plugging K-Dash sportswear for women.

Home shopping is pretty much the only booming area left in Britain's wounded retail world. While the high street struggles towards Christmas, hoping to avoid bankruptcy, QVC UK recently announced that its viewing figures are up 10 per cent in the past year. And its sales are up five per cent on 2009, contributing £387 million to QVC's $7.8 billion revenue for 2010.

'Celebrity products work for us if the celebrity is completely involved in the brand so that they can talk about it live on air for anything up to an hour,' explains Dermot Boyd, CEO of QVC UK. 'We give them training before they go on, no matter how much TV they've done. When a celebrity usually goes on a chat show, they're selling their product while pretending not to. But we are a shop. We buy the products, have them in our warehouse and want to sell them. Our presenters do the hard selling so it's actually a more honest TV appearance than your typical daytime show.'

When home shopping began in the United States some 35 years ago, it was a downmarket hard sell, with cheesy smiles and tacky jewellery. QVC's 1993 UK launch faltered - it didn't turn a profit until the end of the decade. It was a satellite channel, broadcasting to a subscription-paying audience who were better-off than their American counterparts (the typical UK viewer is a slightly upmarket woman aged 35 to 65) and the relentless hard sell put Brits off. Celebrities were the perfect solution - and for celebrities with product to shift, it was a bulk-order dream come true: QVC expects to average £1,000 per minute in sales and buys the full amount of product it expects to sell in advance.

Typically, a star takes between two and four per cent of the price of their named product line, according to Matthew Melver, a beauty industry consultant who has worked with Estée Lauder. Sean Combs sold his entire stock of Sean John - I Am King scents and bathrobes in just 15 minutes on the Home Shopping Network. Celebrity perfumes, according to Luca Turin, author of The Secret of Scent, can cost as little as 20p per bottle to produce; with Combs' I Am King Classic Gift Set with Travel Bag changing hands for a tidy £40, there's a lot more money to be made on the Home Shopping Network than on iTunes.

And shopping channels support their celebrities. When Lulu's anti-ageing range sold £300,000-worth of stock on the Tuesday before last alone, the channel in turn encouraged viewers to vote for the chirpy Scot on Strictly Come Dancing. It's a win, win, win situation - not least because shopping channel presenters are the gentlest interviewers in town. Questions range from 'Why is this skin cream so great?' to 'How do you manage to inspire so many people?'

Despite this, Mariah Carey still managed to cock it up in July when selling her own line of pavé crystal hoop earrings, sequined drawstring bags and tiered crinkle chiffon skirts on QVC US. 'You look amazing!' the hapless presenter Adam opened. 'It has been a long time, baby, and it has been a rough road' Mariah gurgled, romping swiftly into Mariahland. 'Is there a butterfly flying around in here? I don't even know what you guys are charging for it [this stuff]. I've just had babies. I was pregnant when I was creating this stuff. My body was holding on to those twins for 47 weeks'

She still sold a truckload. Unlike poor Peter Andre. Even with his QVC sales, 'Perfect Night' finally charted at number 48 (because QVC is now registered as a chart supplier, every purchase on the channel counted towards his woeful position). He swore he'd be back. 'If at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again,' he reflected. QVC, however, expects to turn over £1,000 a minute, so it's unlikely he'll be invited. ES