HSN to let customers shop by remote

Before we all became comfortable shopping online, commerce first came into our homes through home shopping television networks (well catalogs and direct mail did come before that — but they didn't have screens). See the product, call a number and it was yours. But with all the point-and-click shopping options on the Internet quickly taking over, what could the Home Shopping Network do to stay fresh? How about shopping by TV remote?

HSN has debuted a new service that lets shoppers buy simply by pressing a button on their remote. A quick series of on-screen menus register the selections for style, color and quantity options and you're done in under a minute (less than half the time of the automated shop-by-phone method). HSN has initially paired with the Dish Network to offer the service, and existing Dish Network remotes will work with the system. It will be interesting to see if making the shopping process nearly identical to channel surfing drives up sales over time.