In order to accommodate consumers’ increasing desire to shop on mobile devices, home shopping pioneer QVC plans to launch a new tablet app that will feature content related to its television broadcasts. According to Nielsen’s 2014 Digital Consumer Report, 84 percent of smartphone and tablet owners use their devices as second screens while watching television. Leveraging this trend, QVC’s app will accompany its TV programming in order to help drive sales. 

“It’s all supporting our belief that the more we get [the customer] to connect with us, the more [the customer] will buy,” said QVC CIO Linda Dillman.

QVC’s first quarter this year saw a 4 percent increase in mobile commerce from the 34 percent it registered the previous quarter. In 2013, the network made $1.2 billion from purchases made via smartphones and tablets.

The programs will be encoded with triggers that will correspond with the app, allowing for real-time use.

Consumers will be able to follow along with the show through the app. In order to facilitate purchases, the app will supplement the show with details about products, attachments, and the ability to purchase these products directly from the app. Recipes will also be displayed to accompany food prepared live on the show. And viewers will be able to send questions that the on-air hosts can read and answer live.

“QVC’s work on the second-screen tablet app comes as the company is wrapping up work in making its overall website experience more accessible across any computing device, says Ms. Dillman. This process, known as ‘responsive Web design,’ involves writing software rules that recognize visitors by device type and then serving the website oriented for each device,” reports The Wall Street Journal.