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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 inviting more Buyers and also Brands and Businesses to tell us their stories...
We are your modern day mentors; prepping Buyers of the future, empowering current Buyers and giving insights to retail businesses and entrepreneurs
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
41 episodes
Season 4 Episode 10: Collaboration is kindness with inspirational brand owner Becs founder of the Jewellery brand Boho Betty
In today’s episode, we’re joined by the incredibly inspiring Bex, founder of the beautiful family run jewellery business in the heart of Wilkshire Boho Betty. From a doctor to a business owner, Bex has managed to juggle her growi...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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40:15
S4 E9 Turning plastic waste into Candyfloss: The Polyfloss Factory co-founder Audrey Gaulard has an incredibly creative mind, which has taken her from haute couture fashion to engineering for the creation of circular economies
Today we are joined by Audrey, one the co- Founders of The Polyfloss Factory. The company's main goal is to reduce plastic waste and to transform it into a valuable and unique new resource by inventing a machine inspired by the principle...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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53:21
Season 4 Episode 8 To fit and flatter: The Founder of Fairlie Curved, Jayne Lasley, is an incredibly inspiring CEO, creating a business that empowers women by providing a solution to a fit size that is missing in the market
To celebrate International women's day we are so excited to be joined by Jayne Lasley founder of clothing brand Fairlie Curved. Fairlie Curved is a brand that is dedicated to helping curvy women, particularly those with fuller busts, feel and l...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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56:33
Season 4 Episode 7: The Better Trends co-founder Louise Healy joins us to discuss how trends can be used for the better and the importance of collaboration in this challenging retail landscape
Today we are joined by co-founder of The Better Trends Company, Louise Healy, here today to talk about her career journey and of course all things trends! The Better Trends Company are a trend and design agency doing better, with focused trend ...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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55:49
Season 4 Episode 6: Taking leaps of faith with Ex Schuh, Dune, M&S, Dobbies Buyer turned brand owner and podcaster Claire Gray
Today we are speaking to Claire Gray founder of the amazing skin care brand Ermana Natural skin care and fellow podcaster, for the 'Skin and Within' podcast! Claire is also an ex buyer. Claire will be telling us all about her journey through re...
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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38:39
Season 4 Episode 5: Buyers of the Future. Ex M&S, BHS, White Company and QVC Buyer Sarah Hansford talks to us about her buying journey and how rewarding it is to be teaching “buyers of the future” at the Fashion Retail Academy
Today we are joined by the lovely Sarah Hansford, a buying professional with many hats! Sarah has been in the buying world for over 20 years and worked for lots of different retailers. She’s a fellow ex M&S buyer and most recently is doing ...
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Season 4
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Episode 5
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40:25
Season 4 Episode 4: Get retail ready as this week we talk about Buyers AND Brands. What are our top tips for connecting with the Buyers you need to get in front of in order to get your product stocked in a retailer
Today we discuss the importance of trade shows for Buyers and for brands to connect. We give you the insight into our favourite things about a trade show, trend spotting and helping the evolution of a brand. Plus we debate the pros and cons to ...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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34:12
Season 4 Episode 3: A full circle moment. Ex NEXT Buyer and founder of Mardy Bum Active Club Anna joins us to tell us her incredible and emotional story of how events in life have taken her from Fashion Retail Buying to Founder of an activewear brand.
Anna joins us to tell us her incredible and emotional story of how events in life have taken her from Fashion Retail Buying to Founder of an activewear brand. Anna loved her job as a Retail Buyer but events outside of her control ended her care...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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51:54
Season 4 Episode 2: Retail resolutions & revolutions. What is the future of Retail? Are we really on the ‘cusp of the most dramatic transformation yet?' We talk about our new year's resolutions and a new industrial revolution.
We are feeling so excited for 2025 and all the exciting projects we have in the pipeline. Ready to leave 2024 behind and bring through positive energy from such a great year to build on our foundations and grow into the business we want to be. ...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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38:45
Season 4 Episode 1: Trading in Jan- Help! Sometimes it need a miracle in January to turn the sales around. We talk top tips and the drama that goes on behind the scenes.
This week we are easing ourselves into the new year with a good goss to start…We are catching up and chatting about skiing, impractical ski wear, sportswear brands, practical dressing v. fashion and a great first gift from a boyfriend…
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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31:12
Season 3 Episode 10: Let's talk Christmas - what's it like buying, trading and promoting Christmas products
Here we are our final episode for Season 3, ending with a Christmas special :) We’ve both bought Christmas for over 7 years and it was one of our favourite areas to buy, it can be so much fun! We talk favourite themes, development trips, sample...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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42:29
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Season 3 Episode 9: The Buyers Coach Levanah Gates shares her journey from Buyer to Life Coach and how her insight into the industry helps to support fellow Buyers
This week are joined by Levanah Gates, The Buyers Coach. Levanah started working in retail buying at a similar time to us, she’s worked at a large number of high street retailers and has seen it all! She joins us to tell us her story, from s...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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37:52
Season 3 Episode 8: Finding the balance between work and personal life; how to manage your stress levels and not lead to burnout.
Today’s episode has been on a quite an intense subject, but one that we’ve had quite a few requests for us to discuss - so we hope we did it justice! Stress can be both good and bad, the adrenaline can motivate, but too much can feel o...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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40:39
Season 3 Episode 7: One of our trauma friends joins us to reminisce our time as Buying Assistants, tells us why working in Buying has set the scene for the rest of her career and how transferable Buying skills are for any job
In Episode 7 we chat with one of our OGs, a very special trauma friend! We all started Buying as BAAs, and wow it was a wild time. We recount some of the ridiculous and hilarious memories of the Buying office - working on the hats, gloves and s...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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43:44
Season 3 Episode 6: How to feel confident leaving a job and taking on a new role
This weeks episode aims to give you that confidence boost you need to leave your job and reassurance if you've just made the leap to a new company. It can be quite a daunting prospect moving on, especially if it's your first job or if you're en...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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31:55
Season 3 Episode 5: The importance of product PR to boost your business with PR expert Laura Quick, founder of LQPR
Today we are talking to PR expert Laura Quick founder at LQPR. Lynsey has worked with Laura many times and know her to be the most enthusiastic, inspiring confident PR guru. Laura joins us to talk about the wonderful world of PR. We discuss the...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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41:48
Season 3 Episode 4: The reality of retail. We look back at the golden years, the pandemic & the golden quarter!
This episode is all about the reality check when talking about retail! We talk about how much retail has changed over the past decade or so and the impact of the pandemic - it was HUGE! It's not something we really want to remind us all about, ...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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36:20
Season 3 Episode 3: Trends and Trade Shows. We discuss how trade shows have evolved and report on some key trends we are loving for SS25!
September is the season for trade shows, fashion weeks, and new stock in the stores, so this week we talk all about how trade shows have changed and evolved, new trends for AW24 we're loving from our shop walks, and the styles we've loved from ...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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45:20
Season 3 Episode 2: What exactly is Merchandising? Our fave merchie joins to tell us all about it! We discuss how important a buyer/merch relationship is to the success of the department.
In our second episode of season 3 we have our first merchandiser on the show. As we discussed in episode 1, merchandisers are our partners in crime at most traditional retailers. The Buying & Merchandising department is made up of teams tha...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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37:41
Season 3 Episode 1: All roads lead to a Buyer. A buyer is at the heart of every company. We discuss how to manage all those internal department relationships.
A Buyer is so central to a company, there are so many relationships you need to build for successful sales, and the customer is at the heart of everything - everyone's responsibility in a company is to focus on making it the best experience for...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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34:13
Season 2 Episode 10: Signing off for summer. Thats a wrap on season 2, we talk about all the summer trends we have seen and whats in store for season 3!
So that brings us to the end of our episode, and the end of Season 2! We hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this season as much as we have enjoyed recording it, we’ve tried to keep our episodes to max 30 mins, but with so much to talk about it ca...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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52:38
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Season 2 Episode 9: Sustainability. The impact of retail on the world is huge so we talk about companies doing good, the greenwashing and why we feel strongly about quality over quantity,
This is a topic we are both incredible passionate about, in this episode we discuss what does sustainability actually mean, how are certain retailers getting behind it. The greenwashing effect and our thoughts on some brands that are making som...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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40:13
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Season 2 Episode 8: Personal development is key in buying! We talk all about how to drive your own development and the importance of leaning on those trauma friends along the way!
In Episode 8 we discuss the importance of personal development, taking ownership and driving your own development. It’s easier said than done though, so we share our recommendations for learning opportunities, podcasts that we love (other than ...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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36:16
Season 2 Episode 7: We talk to Emma about her career in buying and share her experience. Emma's bought a whole array of categories and tells us first hand how she learnt to transfer those skills from one product range to another!
This has been such a fun episode to record and it’s been great to have another opinion thrown into the mix! Emma shares really brilliant insights into the opportunities she’s taken, from merchandising laptops to buying beauty & gifting, and...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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31:17
Season 2 Episode 6: Inspirational trips & trends.As a buyer you take trips to inspiring cities to help with the product development of your ranges. We talk through some of the trips we have been lucky enough to attend and how important they are!
In episode 6 the focus is on travel again, but this time inspiration trips, one of the most creative parts of the job! Similarly to a development trip, you will need to be keeping on top of your BAU, so again, as fabulous as the destinations ca...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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29:57
