Plastic surgeon, partner take idea from conception to QVC fame

As a plastic surgeon who performs only facial aesthetic surgery, Goesel Anson noticed the same recurring issue with patients. Instead of ignoring the problem, she came up with a solution — one she could monetize.

That problem? Sleep wrinkles.

About five years ago, Anson started noticing that many of her Las Vegas patients had them, but that most didn’t know what sleep wrinkles were, let alone what caused them.

Anson’s issue is that expression lines can be treated with Botox but sleep wrinkles can’t because they are created from repetitive sleep habits.

“It’s a significant problem,” Anson said.

Her JuveRest sleep wrinkle pillow prototype is designed to encourage back sleeping and thus discourage the lines.

“I’m so happy at this point that it’s done. It’s been a real eye-opener. I think we had no idea how difficult it would be to bring a product all the way to market,” Anson said.

The JuveRest sleep wrinkle pillow is set to debut sometime this month exclusively on QVC, where it will sell for $180.

The shopping channel is broadcast to 250 million homes worldwide and also sells items via its website.

The company’s 2012 revenue was $8.5 billion, and more than 166 million products were shipped last year in categories including jewelry, clothing, electronics and beauty.

As the leader in an $8 billion television home-shopping industry, QVC has a 69 percent market share. The overall electronic retailing direct-to-consumer industry represents a $300 billion market.

For Anson and business partner Cynthia Callendar Gordon, the path from inception to QVC fame has not been easy.

Gordon described part of the process as watching Anson carve an early prototype of the pillow from a block of foam with a turkey knife to work out product specifics before securing patents.

“There were a lot of things that had to be taken into consideration,” Gordon said, including which factory to use.

The two are on their second facility because the first just “couldn’t get it right.”

In the first production, 10,000 pillows were created. Gordon is estimating that for every one sold on QVC, the women will sell five via the website.

The two wanted to sell the product via television because they said it would need an educational element that sitting on a store shelf couldn’t provide.

“I can’t imagine launching this in retail stores. If you understand the problem, then you’ll understand the solution, which is the pillow,” Anson said.

Anson and Gordon first contacted QVC in September.

Gordon said the shopping network recognized JuveRest’s potential right away.

QVC is doing well. Analysts from Zacks released a report in early June saying the home shopping channel of Liberty Interactive Corp. is benefiting from a surge in Web sales.

QVC’s management said online sales will constitute more than 50 percent of the company’s total revenue in the United States by 2014.

Internet Retailer found that QVC was the second-largest ecommerce retailer in the United States last year after Amazon.

Growth is expected to come from exposure to international markets such as Japan, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @lscvegas on Twitter.