Yo! MTV . . . Shops? : If the network likes the test results, it’ll join QVC’s world. There’s moola to be made--and pitfalls to overcome

On video shopping channels, it’s not uncommon to hear hawkers describe cubic zirconia jewelry as stunning or call polyester pantsuits irresistible.

Now that Beavis and Butt-head have joined the ranks of the electronic shills, “it doesn’t suck” can be added to the list of home shopping’s fawning phrases.

MTV Networks--which includes VH-1, Nickelodeon and MTV--began testing the home shopping waters in August. On the distant horizon--if the tests went well--was a separate, 24-hour shopping channel that could compete for a share of a $2-billion-a-year industry. But since a wildly successful initial outing during the broadcast of Woodstock ‘94, complications have arisen.

“Products aren’t ready, customized merchandise is late. We’re walking in a world we’ve never been before,” says Mark Rosenthal, executive vice president of MTV. “Some of the stuff we’ve never done before and we’re having to piece it together.”

Which explains why viewers who want their MTV shopping shows have only two chances left this year to shop--the premiere edition of “The Goods,” which airs tonight, and what Isaac Mizrahi calls his “Frocumentary,” which airs Sunday.

“The Goods” is the MTV and VH-1 showcase for clothes from Marc Jacobs, Todd Oldham and Anna Sui. Oldham, who has a recurring segment on MTV’s “House of Style,” has also designed housewares to be sold on VH-1. Mizrahi’s line of TV sitcom-inspired clothes will be sold--where else?--on Nick at Nite.

Another show, “Gotta Get It,” features such disparate items as NBA Courtside merchandise, Doc Marten boots and Tommy Hilfiger’s combination backpack-campstool. It was supposed to air on VH-1 but, as with the other test programs, it will be pushed to 1995.

Rosenthal views MTV’s foray into home shopping as only a test, one whose objective is instructional.

“At the end of the testing period,” he predicts, “I will have a series of programs with enough different shows, spread across three very different TV networks, selling a ton of different merchandise, from housewares and electronics to high fashion items and fashion items that are nostalgic.

“At the end of the day, I’m going to have a pretty good idea what works with an audience.”

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There are only two major competitors in the home shopping arena: QVC (in 50 million homes, with 1993 sales of $1.22 billion) and the Home Shopping Network (in 60 million homes, with 1993 sales of $1.04 billion).

But the numbers speak even louder at MTV. The music channel is in 59 million American homes and another 240 million internationally. Asia and India got their MTV this month, jacking those figures into the stratosphere. VH-1 and Nickelodeon each are in more than 50 million U.S households and are beginning their global conquest.

Analysts say that should MTV Networks launch a shopping channel, it could be at the $1-billion mark in a few years.

“If you take a typical cable audience of 60 million homes, 8% have bought from QVC and Home Shopping Network,” Rosenthal notes. “How do you get the other 92%? Higher quality. That’s the opportunity. Our focus is narrow and specialized.”

Gabe Doppelt, former editor in chief of Mademoiselle, lined up self-confessed Nick at Nite-watching Mizrahi, Oldham, Sui and Jacobs to create items exclusive to MTV, VH-1 and Nick at Nite.

“A lot of (shopping channels) have approached us, but the audience was not right,” says Robert Duffy, Jacobs’ partner. “Our customer is younger, smaller. . . . When Gabe approached us, it felt right.”

Jacobs reproduced a dress from his collection for MTV at a fraction of the price. The original stretch wool-jersey dress, embedded with Swarovoski crystals, cost $500. The MTV version in rhinestone-covered cotton jersey sells for less than $100, a price ceiling Doppelt put on all the designers.

Sui cranked out an MTV-friendly black vinyl wrap skirt and brilliant-colored, cropped T-shirts printed with the theme of her last collection--a cheerleader.

Mizrahi has stitched up a full-body, Laura Petrie apron.

Cindy Crawford’s commercials for “The Goods” sold Todd Oldham on MTV shopping. “When we saw that they were doing (the shows) in a young, enticing, professional way, we were inspired,” says Oldham’s business partner, Tony Longoria.

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Yet critics from rival shopping networks say the look of MTV shopping is too entertaining, too hip and too fast-paced--folks won’t buy.

Oldham says that’s exactly where the critics are wrong: People don’t need to be bored into a stupor to spend.

During MTV’s first 30-minute shopping show, featuring Woodstock ‘94-related items, more than $1.5 million worth of telephone orders were taken in two days.

The 14-to-34-year-old MTV audience bought it all--the T-shirts, programs, hats and a $75 package of framed ticket, backstage pass and commemorative coin. Price seemed to be no object, nor did getting their youthful hands on a credit card.

But can that success be duplicated on a 24-hour MTV shopping channel?

Rosenthal says that next year, after all the checks have cleared, the network will decide whether to start such a channel.

“If there is a future for us in electronic retailing, we will study the process, figure it out, make a prudent investment and do it.”

And with any luck, it won’t suck.

TV Shopping Channels That Are On--and Off--the Launching Pad

Many companies, lusting after the profits generated by electronic shopping, have announced plans to launch shopping channels. As yet, not one has become a permanent fixture in the cable program guide.

* In April, Time Warner and Spiegel Inc. launched a test of a show called “Catalog 1” in 400,000 homes, selling items from catalogue companies such as Spiegel, Eddie Bauer, Neiman Marcus, Sharper Image, Crate & Barrel and Bombay Co.

After four weeks, Catalog 1 shoppers spent twice what QVC shoppers do, says Gordon Cooke, president of Time Warner interactive merchandising. An additional 500,000 homes in the Pittsburgh market were added Oct. 1.

* In June, 1993, Macy’s announced plans for a 24-hour shopping channel. Myron E. Ullman III, Macy’s chairman and CEO, touted TV Macy as equal to 20 branch stores with the merchandise investment of one. A test run was scheduled for this fall with 2.3 million viewers in Long Island, but because of the Federated/Macy’s merger, says a Macy’s representative, the test has been postponed.

* Nordstrom was one of the first retailers to announce plans for an interactive shopping channel. So far, though, the company’s participation is limited to partnership with Lands’ End and JCPenney in Bell Atlantic’s Stargazer program, a video-on-demand service that sells products via an 800 number. (JCPenney tried its hand at home shopping in the late ‘80s and failed; QVC ultimately absorbed the operation.) Stargazer will begin testing in 1,000 homes this winter.

* The Box, an interactive cable music channel out of Miami, said last year that it was developing a shopping component. But the plan is still tacked to the drawing table. Company spokeswoman Lois Schmatz says the Box will open a retail store stocked with Box merchandise. Eventually, the company hopes to test the products over Box request lines.

* Bertelsmann Music Group, which owns RCA and Arista records, announced plans to produce a music shopping channel in 1993, but did an about-face and decided that a music channel without shopping, real-life dramas and cartoon shows would be better.

“The shopping project was discontinued, and we have joined with other labels--Warner, Sony and Polygram--to start a music video channel,” says BMG spokesman Jim Kelly.