Multimedia report highlights Qurate Retail Group's latest progress on its long-term efforts to inspire a more sustainable way to retail, inclusive of measurable, time-bound targets

SOURCE: Qurate Retail Group

SUMMARY:

• Provided $45 million in total contributions towards global COVID-19 relief efforts, marking the biggest single commitment in the history of the company
• Launched specific 2025 goals to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion for workforce, vendors/suppliers, customers, and communities
• Expanded sourcing social responsibility program globally and disclosed information on factory audits as part of commitment to transparency
• Reduced the average emissions intensity per package shipped by 5% – two years ahead of schedule

DESCRIPTION:

WEST CHESTER, Pa., May 13, 2021 /3BL Media/ - Qurate Retail Group^SM, a world leader in multiplatform retail, has released its 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report, which provides an in-depth look at the company’s ongoing progress toward inspiring a more sustainable way to retail: intentionally inclusive, entrepreneurially driven, responsibly curated and waste-smart. Qurate Retail Group is part of Qurate Retail, Inc. (NASDAQ: QRTEA, QRTEB, QRTEP).

This report reflects Qurate Retail Group’s robust corporate responsibility program, which the company has built over many years. The report includes detailed statistics and success stories on Qurate Retail Group’s actions supporting its three corporate responsibility pillars: Protecting Our Environment, Championing Empowerment and Belonging, and Curating Product Responsibly.

As part of this program, Qurate Retail Group established Corporate Responsibility Commitments that are aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Qurate Retail Group and its seven brands – QVC®, HSN®, Zulily®, Ballard Designs®, Frontgate®, Garnet Hill®, and Grandin Road® – have a long-standing dedication to building a better world and being a force for positive change. These efforts are deeply rooted in the company’s Principles, which call on team members to Drive Progress, Act with Empathy, Be Brave, Embrace the Future, and Do What’s Right.

“Our focus on responsible business practices has never been more important and our commitment to being part of the solution on issues like inequality, climate change, and poverty is stronger than ever,” said Mike George, President and CEO of Qurate Retail, Inc. “Our first Corporate Responsibility Report reflects the hard work of Qurate Retail Group team members across the world. I am proud that amidst the challenges of 2020, our company made significant strides to build a more sustainable way to retail. While there is more work to do to achieve our ambitious goals, and we realize there is no ‘finish line’ for this work, I am confident we can do it together.”

A few of the report’s highlights include:

• Supporting communities through the COVID-19 pandemic. As an organization, Qurate Retail Group provided $45 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts for impacted team members and communities worldwide. This included about $26 million in Covid-19-related emergency pay and supplemental benefits for team members; over $3.5 million in donated airtime and digital support through our Small Business Spotlight initiative with the National Retail Federation Foundation; and more than $2.6 million in funding for Meals and Wheels and No Kid Hungry to combat rising hunger among seniors and children.  
  • Total charitable donations made or facilitated by Qurate Retail Group in 2020 totaled nearly $40 million – more than double the amount in 2019. This total includes monetary gifts, in-kind donations, and volunteer efforts related to COVID-19 and to other urgent issues, such as racial justice, cancer research, and women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship. For example, the company’s annual Beauty with Benefits event raised $2.7 million to aid cancer survivors. Qurate Retail Group team members also volunteered over 10,000 hours to build resilience in communities around the globe. Additional details are available in the Global Contributions Video and in the Global Contribution Summary section of the Corporate Responsibility report.
     
• Expanding a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Efforts in 2020 led to the launch of specific goals in February 2021 that outline how Qurate Retail Group plans to support and advance underrepresented groups on its leadership team and across its workforce, vendors/suppliers, customers, and communities by 2025. As part of this work, Qurate Retail Group is sharing the gender and ethnicity demographics of its work force, established a range of team member resource groups, rolled out inclusive leadership training for people leaders, enhanced diversity and inclusion recruiting capabilities, introduced conscious and inclusive language training for program hosts and other behind-the-scenes teams, and supported organizations advancing social and racial justice. In addition:
  • To promote more inclusive entrepreneurship, Qurate Retail Group’s Small Business Spotlight focused on 40 Black-owned small businesses from August to October 2020 and is supporting 100 diverse small businesses in 2021.
  • To build on their longstanding support for size inclusivity, in 2020, QVC and HSN further extended sizing from 3X to 5X, while maintaining uniform pricing across the size ranges, for the more than 125 brands that appear on-air. And in September, QVC hosted its first-ever size inclusivity and body positivity virtual summit, “QVC Presents: Inclusively You, Powered by Create & Cultivate,” attracting almost 3,000 participants across 24 countries for three hours of inspiring content and networking.
     
• Promoting innovation around sustainable products. QVC Germany launched NEXT > IN SUSTAINABILITY, a start-up competition to identify and celebrate entrepreneurs whose products help customers build sustainable habits. NEXT > IN SUSTAINABILITY is an evolution of the QVC NEXT program that finds and supports promising entrepreneurs in Italy and Germany. More than half of the start-ups participating in QVC NEXT in 2020 were founded by women or have at least one female founding member.
   
• Reducing emissions and waste. Qurate Retail Group continues to make progress on its sustainable packaging targets. In 2020, the company achieved its goal of reducing the average emissions intensity per package shipped by 5%^[1], ahead of its 2022 target. The company is also well on its way to eliminating single-use plastic bottles from all corporate office locations by the end of 2021. In addition, Qurate Retail Group joined the How2Recycle labeling program and placed the label on the majority of outbound packaging for QVC US, HSN, and Zulily, improving customer awareness of the recyclability of Qurate Retail Group’s packaging. The Corporate Responsibility Report also includes estimates of the company's greenhouse gas emissions.

The 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report was prepared in accordance with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standard. To learn more about Qurate Retail Group’s Corporate Responsibility initiatives visit: www.qurateretailgroup.com/lp/corporate-responsibility

About Qurate Retail Group
Qurate Retail Group^SM comprises seven leading retail brands – QVC^®, HSN^®, Zulily^®, Ballard Designs^®, Frontgate^®, Garnet Hill^®, and Grandin Road^® – all dedicated to providing a Third Way to Shop^®, beyond transactional ecommerce or traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Globally, Qurate Retail Group^SM is a world leader in video commerce, among the top 10 ecommerce retailers in North America (according to Digital Commerce 360), and a leader in mobile commerce and social commerce. The retailer reaches approximately 218 million homes worldwide via 14 television networks and reaches millions more via multiple streaming services, social pages, mobile apps, websites, print catalogs, and in-store destinations. Qurate Retail Group combines the best of retail, media, and social to curate products, experiences, conversations, and communities for millions of highly discerning shoppers – bringing joy, inspiration, and humanity to shopping. Qurate Retail Group also curates large audiences, across multiple platforms, for thousands of brand vendors. Headquartered in West Chester, Pa., Qurate Retail Group has 26,000 team members in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Japan, Italy, Poland, and China. For more information, visit www.qurateretailgroup.com, follow @QurateRetailGrp on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or follow Qurate Retail Group on YouTube or LinkedIn.

Qurate Retail, Inc. (NASDAQ: QRTEA, QRTEB, QRTEP) includes the Qurate Retail Group portfolio of brands as well as other minority interests and green energy investments.

^[1] In comparison to a 2018 baseline.

KEYWORDS: Qurate Retail Group