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Buying and Beyond
Welcome to the Buying & Beyond podcast, the podcast for all things Retail Buying...and more!
Join us, Kate & Lyns, buyers and best friends, each week for industry insights, stories and expertise from real people in retail.
Enjoy honest stories and conversations, retail therapy and learn bite-sized tips from us and our guests from across the industry.
- Season 1 starts with Becoming a Buyer - the background to how we started in the industry, what exactly is a Buyer, working your way up the ladder and the main meetings and tasks working in Buying
- Season 2 is all about Being a Buyer - leading a team, coordinating trips, working with suppliers, product & personal development and sustainability
- Season 3 takes us beyond just the direct Buying team - we introduce merchandisers, talk about designers and new trends, burnout & life coaching.
- Season 4 is where we are joined by more Retail Buyers and have also invited Retail Businesses to tell us their stories
- Season 5 continues with a fantastic assortment of Retail Buyers and Retail Businesses. We find out how they got started and what inspires & excites them about retail - plus we lift the lid on what Brands need and Buyers expect!
We are your modern day mentors; prepping Buyers of the future and empowering current Buyers. Our insights for retail businesses and entrepreneurs will shine a light on how to to build, grow, scale and pitch like a pro!
If you like listening to this podcast, please rate, follow and share - you can also find us on instagram @buyingandbeyond
Come behind the scenes with Buying and Beyond
Episodes
99 episodes
S9 E4: Why the Best Buyers Watch More Than Just Their Category
In this week's episode, Kate and Lyns dive deep into one of their favourite subjects - retail - and why staying commercially aware is one of the most powerful tools a buyer can have. From trade meeting horror stories (hello, & Other Stories...
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S9 E3: The Career Tool Most Buyers Never Think to Use with Levanah Gates, The Buyer's Coach
This week we're joined by Levanah Gates, The Buyer's Coach -a former buying manager at M&S, Tesco, BHS, Fat Face, and George (Asda)- who now coaches buyers and retail professionals to build confidence, gain clarity, and navigate the fast-pa...
S9 E2: Navigating a Non-Linear Career in Fashion with Lynsey Scoins
In this episode, we're joined by Lynsey Scoins — a fashion industry veteran with over 15 years of experience across design, buying, merchandising and recruitment, and founder of Fashion Path, a platform dedicated to helping people break into an...
S9 E1: From the Supplier Side: Holly Stafford Smith on Buying, Business & Building for the Future
This week, we’re joined by Holly Stafford Smith from GH Stafford & Son limited a fourth-generation family business that’s been supplying leather goods and accessories to retailers across the UK and Ireland since 1947.Holly gives us a...
S8 E10: Building Brands That Stand the Test of Time with Jodie Blake CMO at Manolo Blahnik
This week's episode is a special one co-host Lynsey is joined by her old friend and former London College of Fashion classmate, Jodie Blake, now CMO at Manolo Blahnik. What starts as a nostalgic trip down memory lane (lemon poppy seed muf...
S8 E9: From Buyer to Supplier: A Journey Through the World of Food with Claire McIlroy
Claire McIlroy returns to the pod for a deep dive into the fascinating and surprisingly complex world of grocery buying. Having started her career on the buying side at DHL and Morrisons before moving into sales and her current role as Sales Di...
S8 E8: Ginny & Me- Pre-Order Power & The Rise of Social-First Brands
In this episode, Yasmin O’Donnell shares the story behind Ginny & Me a social-first fashion brand that has quickly built a cult following around its hero flared-sleeve windbreaker jacket. What began in her Oxford Brookes University bedroom,...
S8 E7: Introducing... The Buyers Club
In this special episode, we’re doing something a little different. Before we dive into our usual conversations, we’re sharing something we’ve been working on behind the scenes for a while- the launch of The Buyer’s Club.This has b...
S8 E6: What It Really Takes to Scale a Rental Fashion Business with Lyndsay Mason
In this episode, we sit down with Lyndsay Mason, founder and CEO of For The Creators, a business transforming maternity and early parenthood fashion through a sustainable rental model. What began as a personal frustration with the lack of styli...
S8 E5 Burnout Isn’t a Badge of Honour with Janine McManus
This week we’re joined by Janine McManus - former fashion buyer, therapeutic coach and founder of We Beam - for a powerful and honest conversation about burnout, identity and redefining success.Janine began her career as a print designer...
S8 E4: From Fashion Buying to Building Club Mera with Amy Rollings
In this episode, we sit down with Amy Rollings, a commercial leader with over 20 years of experience at some of the world’s most influential fashion and lifestyle brands, including Burberry, Michael Kors, Kurt Geiger and Pangaia. Amy takes us o...
S8 E3: Podcast LIVE at Top Drawer - Getting started in AI with Hannah Adams
This week’s episode is split into two parts.The first was recorded live at Top Drawer back in January, where we sat down with Hannah Adams to talk about AI and what it really means for buyers and brands.The second dives into Hanna...
S8 E2: From shop floor lessons to commercial confidence in FMCG with Dahlia Stroud
S8 EP2 From shop floor lessons to commercial confidence with Dahlia StroudThis week we’re joined by Dahlia Stroud, a retail and FMCG leader whose career spans Nestlé, Asda and Co-op, where she’s led commercial strategy, online trading an...
S8 E1: Behind every great product, is a product tech with Claire Ward, Senior Product Technologist at Mint Velvet
This week we are joined by Claire Ward- a senior product technologist. This episode is a particularly special one for us. Claire, Kate and Lyns all met right at the very beginning of our careers at Accessorize, learning the ropes of retail toge...
S7 E10: Progress Over Perfection: Making Circular Fashion Work at Scale with Nick Lambert, Head of Circularity at Primark
This week’s episode is a big one and a conversation we’ve been really excited to share. We’re joined by Nick Lambert, Head of Circularity at Primark, whose career journey is a powerful example of how deep commercial experience can drive r...
S7 E9: Why we fell in love with retail buying - and why so many are leaving
In this episode, Kate and Lyns reflect on seven seasons of Buying and Beyond and take on one of the most pressing - and personal - topics in retail today: why so many buyers are leaving the industry they once loved.With no guest thi...
S7 E8: Building beauty brands with Harry Zalk CEO of Arkive Headcare
In today’s episode, we’re delighted to be joined by Harry Zalk, CEO of ARKIVE Headcare at Matrix Brands an innovative, B Corp–certified brand incubator creating and scaling some of the most exciting names in health and beauty.Matrix is b...
S7 E7: Burnout & building confidence in Buying & Design with The W-Collective
In today’s episode, we’re joined by Katie and Clare, the brilliant duo behind The W-Collective - a platform built on honest conversations, practical tools, and real support for working women.If you haven’t come across The W-Collect...
S7 E6 - Expertise That Grows: Buying Plants with Claire Bishop, Senior Buyer at Dobbies Garden Centres
In today’s episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Claire Bishop, Senior Plant Buyer at Dobbies Garden Centres and one of the most knowledgeable people we know when it comes to all things horticulture.Claire and Lynsey first met during ou...
S7 E5: What makes a standout retail range? Buyer–Designer partnerships and the story behind Everley Studio
In this episode, we’re joined by two absolute gems of the design world - Sarah Spires and Rachel Perkins - the creative duo and big-hearted energy behind Everley Studio.Before launching Everley, Sarah and Rachel spent years inside retail...
S7 E4: How a former M&S and Amazon Buyer turned her fashion career into a personal styling business, with Alex Stanley
We’re so excited to welcome Alex Standley to the podcast this week! Alex has spent over 15 years navigating the high-stakes, fast-paced world of fashion buying at global giants like Marks & Spencer and Amazon - from trend-spotti...
S7 E3: What’s Next for Retail? AI, Innovation & Big Career Support with Julia Darlington (Part 2)
In Part 2 of our conversation with Julia Darlington, we shift from her remarkable career journey to the future of the retail industry and the work she’s doing now to shape the next generation of female leaders.With decades of se...
S7 E2 Inside Julia Darlington’s Retail Career: Buying, Reinvention & Confidence in a Changing Industry (Part 1)
In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, we’re thrilled to welcome Julia Darlington a woman whose career spans some of the UK’s most iconic retailers including M&S, French Connection, Habitat, Coast, Tie Rack, Arcadia, and Accessorize...
Retail Reflections 21st November 2025; Fast Paint, Knitted Scarves & Marketplace Madness
This week on Retail Reflections: Shein’s still stealing headlines, Clarks and Walmart double down on marketplaces, and B&Q delivers paint faster than you can make a cuppa. M&S takes Percy Pigs down under, Vinted’s value goes sky-high, a...
S7 E1: What it really takes to thrive in fashion buying today with Stevie, Head of Buying at Hobbs
In this episode of Buying & Beyond, we sit down with Stevie, Head of Buying at Hobbs, to explore her inspiring journey through the ever-changing world of fashion retail. From her early days at the London College of Fashion to leadi...