Telebrands International’s President Elected ERA Chair

“As Seen on TV” company’s president Poonam Khubani elected chair of the Electronic Retailing Association.

By George N. Saliba, Managing Editor On Oct 31, 2016

Poonam Khubani, president of Fairfield-based Telebrands International, is elected chair of the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA), a trade group representing the direct-to-consumer marketplace. The organization consists not only of companies that market products via television infomercials, but those that offer their wares via online avenues and through household name retail stores such as Bed, Bath & Beyond, for example. Of note, entire retail store aisles are today devoted to the “As Seen on T.V.” category – a term Telebrands originally coined in the 1980s.

With its decades of experience and success, Khubani is well suited to help guide the $350-billion direct response television-to-consumer industry, and Khubani summarizes an array of interest points: “[Direct response] is a platform; retail is a platform; the internet is a platform. Our organization is a space where all of these different platforms come together. We want to be able to attract more members to our industry events, and our conventions, and be able to meet more players to see how they can enhance their businesses.”

She adds, “We have a whole self-regulation component to our organization, which teaches new players what to do, what not to do, what are the pitfalls, and how to understand what claims they should not be making, so we have complete clarity, and at the end, consumer satisfaction.”

Referring solely to Telebrands, Khubani says, “We [at Telebrands] just had one product called ‘Tree Dazzler’ that had been on ‘Shark Tank’ for a very long time, but didn’t bring in any sales. Finally, through us, the retail sales are now coming. Just having a product on a television show doesn’t mean anything. What you need is the right commercial, and a commercial that is going to make the phone ring. It has to be able to translate into the minds of consumers, where they want to go to retail locations and pick up the products; that’s what makes products sell. Just by having a commercial; by having a product on a show – an inventor’s show, or a gadget on a show, doesn’t mean anything.”

Khubani adds, “We know that we are not in this business for one product or two products; we have been here for 30 years, and the consumer has created kind of an affinity, or they know our product and they kind of feel good about buying from Telebrands. We want the consumer to be confident when they buy a product that comes from Telebrands; that it is going to be something that is going to be good quality.”

Among her many points, Khubani wants to ensure all industry players produce high-quality products with accurate product claims.

 

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