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 been a long time coming, and it’s something we feel incredibly passionate about because it really started with our own experience. Throughout our careers in buying, we’ve always leaned on each other to sense-check decisions, share the highs and lows, and navigate what can often feel like a fast-paced and, at times, quite intense role. Having that support made a huge difference, and it made us realise just how valuable it is to have people around you who truly understand what you do.

Created by buyers, for buyers, The Buyer’s Club is a members-only community designed to support those working in retail buying through connection, shared insight and ongoing inspiration. The idea came not only from our own experience, but also from speaking to the wider industry. After gathering feedback from over 400 retail buyers, it became clear that there was a real need for a space like this, somewhere buyers could feel more connected, supported and understood.

Retail buying sits in a unique position within the industry. It’s a role that blends creativity with commercial thinking, requiring instinct, data, and the ability to make decisions quickly. It’s incredibly rewarding, but it also comes with its challenges and often, those experiences are only truly understood by other buyers. That’s exactly what led us to create The Buyer’s Club: a space where those conversations can happen more openly, and where buyers can learn from each other in a meaningful way.

Inside the club, members have access to a range of content and experiences designed to support them in their roles. This includes curated trend edits and retail insights to help inform buying decisions, learning and development tools, and a calendar of key industry moments. Alongside this, there are opportunities to connect through networking events and monthly online catch-ups, as well as access to a private community space, behind-the-scenes podcast content and exclusive member perks.

The Buyer’s Club is for anyone working in retail buying, whether you’re at the beginning of your career or have years of experience behind you. If you’re looking to feel more connected to others in the industry, stay inspired, and have access to tools and insight that support your role, this is exactly why we built it.

If you’d like to join, you can find more details via our website:
 www.jointhebuyersclub.co.uk

Three Key Takeaways

Built on real buyer feedback
The Buyer’s Club has been shaped by insights from over 400 retail buyers, ensuring it reflects the real needs, challenges and aspirations of those working in the role every day.

Retail buying deserves its own space
It’s a unique role that sits between creativity and commerce, with experiences that are often only understood by others in the same position — making a dedicated community more important than ever.

Connection builds confidence
At its core, The Buyer’s Club is about bringing buyers together — creating a s

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello and welcome to Buying and Beyond, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of retail buying.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

We're Kate and Lynn's and we are talking all things retail buying and beyond with real people in retail.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

So grab your drink of choice and come and have a giggle with us. Before we start, we just wanted to tell you that we've created a club and we'd love for you to join. The Buyers Club has been created for buyers by buyers.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

If you work in retail buying, you'll know that this role is unlike any other. It's creative, commercial, fast moving, and incredibly rewarding. And our stories are outrageous and sometimes even unhinged.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Built from feedback from over 400 buyers, it's a dedicated community designed to help you grow, connect, and thrive in your career.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

We've got curated trend edits, retail insights, learning and support tools, and a few exclusive perks too.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Plus our networking events, monthly online catch-ups, and calendar highlights and recommendations.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

If you want to feel more connected, more confident, and more supported in your buying career, head to our homepage for more information on how to join our club. www.join the buyersclub.co.uk.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

We cannot wait for you to join us. Now let's get into today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

This week on the podcast, it's us. We are taking a little break from all of our fabulous guests to talk through buying and also what we've been working on recently and why we've created it. So drum roll, please. Firesclub! Firesclub. Let's get into it. We I mean it is all consuming for us right now, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yes, it is. And it has been something that's been a long time in the making, isn't it? And I think that's what's so like crazily exciting that we've got this over the lawn.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

That we've got to this point, definitely. And I think, I mean, we'll get into it, but I don't think we quite realized how ambitious our plans were and are. And there's still so much more to come that we haven't been able to do yet because of, I guess, slight limitations in terms of time, functionality, and also just when you're building something like this, you are all the hats. And we have very much worked in large businesses where you've often either had a team around you that can support and do things. And even when we've worked in businesses, because we both have that have been kind of more in their infancy or they've been in kind of more of a kind of a fast growing sort of stage, and we've had to wear more hats, we still haven't had to wear all the hats.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Yeah, definitely. But it's been like a really nice introduction in, hasn't it? Because we have worked in those businesses. So we've we've sort of dipped our toe in to marketing and like the kind of real back-end, end-to-end supply chain journey, you know, and I think that's just like set us up for this so well. But you're totally right. Like, I think the amount of finding out and learning on the job has been explosive, hasn't it? And I don't know, I think I I don't know about you, Kate, but I'm I'm sure you feel the same. Like learning on the job has always been something that has actually been really exciting, really nice. I think it's just been so great that we've we've learned so much over the last like 18 months, really, about ourselves and about um other things out there.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Definitely, it's all about learning on the job. I always learn through doing. I find it so hard when someone just tells me something for it just to go in to do it. I always have to then do it in practice.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Uh and I think as far as we're used to juggling so many different plates, right? So we're doing one IT piece here where we're writing some copy here, we are brainstorming something over here, and then we're also trying to like get back to an email and keep things on track. And yeah, there's been a lot. Um, but should we go back to where it kind of all started? And I mean, I don't think it's going to be a surprise to anybody because I think we've talked about this quite a few times. So without repeating ourselves too much, we are obviously loved our roles in buying, and we both worked for 15 plus years, working our way all the way up from BA to how of buying, and really, really enjoyed it. Yes, there were definitely some tough times, but we loved it. Um, but we did notice, you know, it it got harder and harder, and there were a lot of things being thrown. And I think while we did as much as we could within our roles and motivating our teams and trying to kind of address maybe issues as they came along, we would always be trying to kind of remain positive. And I think I think definitely like energy is a big thing for us, right? Yeah. Um, you know, keeping that energy going and energy feeds energy. Um, so you know, you go in feeling like okay, today's gonna be a good day, and you meet, you know, someone that's particularly down on things, it sucks the energy out, and you all start to feel quite deflated. And I think we both felt like we'd done so much within our roles, but our reach actually within those roles was quite limited, and we wanted to do more, I guess. We wanted to reach more people, which is why we originally started the podcast, you know. It was we had so many conversations, and we were like, this could be really interesting. Do you think someone else would like to hear this?

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's it was it was an organic journey, really, for us, wasn't it? And I think because we'd bonded so much at the beginning of our careers where we'd started life. I think you're right, it's it was like a really amazing, amazing induction into buying where we were and where we learnt from and the people that we were surrounded by. That a lot of us are still in contact, aren't we? And you know, I think us put you and I probably stayed the closest, but I don't think I could quite honestly say I could have done my career as well without having you there in the background, just helping me through some moments that are wobbly really positive as well, like really amazing moments, like just like having that person that's basically that's not in the organization, like you said, that isn't isn't affected by some of the toxic culture and is giving such an open perspective, you know. I think that's what we gave to each other, and we really boosted each other along the way, and and also just none of our other friends who aren't in this industry understood it. Like they're they're sort of saying, What? This is madness that what you have to do to get an interview, what you have to do in an interview, what you have to do on a day-to-day basis, the problem solving, the like pivoting because strategies are changing, like it is such an eclectic role, isn't it? You know, so you need someone that gets it, but you also need someone that's not properly in your in your lane to give you that open perspective, and I think that's what we really enjoyed so much about our friendship to each other. And like you say, yeah, I just remember those like endless phone calls. Often when we were driving, weren't we? Because when we were sort of late in our latter careers, we were having to commute via driving and just helping each other through some of the madness, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

And I think as you say, it's somebody that's removed from the situation, so hasn't been in the day-to-day that isn't kind of personally affected. And I remember us having some quite awkward conversations at time where, like, you know, we'd kind of give maybe reality checks or and or not even reality checks sometimes, just like what is it? The um not devil worth Prada, although that's very, very, but you know, almost like that kind of um not to be a what is it when you give that opposite opposing opinion not to play devil's advocate, that's it. And or devil.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

One of my biases to call it devil's avocado.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah, not to play devil's advocate, but actually, have you thought about it from this perspective? And when you're removed from the emotion, sometimes you can have those conversations, and and even if the it's not received in the best way, you're not having to work with that person all day, every day, and you can just give it a break and reflect, and then be like, actually, I think they had something, you know. Um and I think it it helps to have somebody with like another perspective. I think whatever level you're in, I think we felt it more and more the higher up the triangle you go, because the fewer you fewer there are at that level. As a BA, we were all doing the same thing at the same time, and it was amazing. But as you kind of go up, you start to, you know, people go off to do different careers, or they might different people moving at different levels, and there's less and less and less of you, a within your business, but also across all retail, so you become naturally a little bit more isolated. The higher up you go, the more you're exposed to, but the less you can share.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

It's gonna be quite a weight to carry.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Yeah, and just on that note as well, Kate, you know, it's it wasn't, I think a lot of our industry is so guarded, and you we we've often talked about, you know, how this these CEO round table dinners that they all go to, and they're not sharing, they're not sharing confidential information, they're not sharing stats or like you know, figures that are incredibly confidential or like pricing or anything like that. And neither are we, like that's not what we want to share with each other, and and we're very mindful of the fact that you know we're not allowed to share that kind of information with each other, but that's not the information that we needed support on. I don't need to know what your suppliers' cost prices are. That that's not in, you know, that's not knowledge that I need or am going to benefit from. It was more like the how do you navigate yourself through this hypothetical situation, or you know, you're having like a bit of a difficult time with burnout, like and you're you can't see the wood for the trees. What do you do?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

How do you manage up or how do you manage down, or how do you just deal with a difficult colleague or someone that you're particularly close to, and or you don't agree with something something's done, or you really want to champion someone, but you don't want to like overstep the mark, like there's so many situations like that, exactly. And like buying is notoriously gatekeeping, like we've talked about it before, even within brands, teams within brands, like everybody kind of keeps things very, very close to themselves. But when you think about other areas that are so much more open about things, right? Yeah, and also can I just say sorry, also when we were chatting, we were not working on the same categories. So I did not care what cost prices your suppliers were doing because they were completely different categories, they had no relevance whatsoever at some points. Like, I'm sorry you're buying barbecues and I'm buying jewelry, like you know, like exactly what it was at one point, it's not comparable, right? So it's not that information necessarily, and it just show goes to show that so many of the principles are are shared across all these different types of categories. It's not necessarily about just surrounding yourself with fashion or accessories or food or barbecues or gardening, like, yeah, definitely, they all have their specialities and they're all gonna have their slight quirks, which is why we have always said firms like no disrespect, you're very, very clever, but firms like people like BWC coming in trying to streamline everything doesn't work because you're all very different teams working in very different ways on very different product categories, but the principles of buying remain the same, yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

And I think we've been so lucky to buy such a wide range of categories between us, like it's incredible how many categories we've touched now, and you're totally right. I think there's so much to be learned from other people and the other way, the other way of working. And why not open that up to conversation? You can see that these other industries, you know, world of marketing, world of PR, everybody has their own little club and their own little sort of forum support level, where they're sharing information like this, and it's only helping them grow stronger, and you know, with the world, the world that we're entering into and the challenges of retail at the moment, we have to get together and learn from each other and support one another to keep these businesses open, keep the doors open, keep the jobs there.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah, definitely. I know I sharing ideas and you know how to create things or hot topics or you know, trends, like useful tools. And not all of these things are going to be applicable for each business, you know, depending on your your values, as we always talk about, and you know, what did your brand mean? But um, but sharing things that will just help you to excel. So you look at all these different, like huge, huge marketing brands that are more than willing to go and tell them about a campaign that they ran that was particularly successful because they know that no one, and I think marketing know that better than anyone. So let's let's listen to them. Like no one is going to do it like you've done it, because every brand is different, every brand has a USP. So what worked for somebody may not work for you in the same way, but you could take those learnings and those ideas and spark something totally new for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Exactly. And I think I'm so excited and and feel very privileged and lucky to be able to use this to do all that research for a buyer. Because if you think about it, you know, we've got a couple of friends at the moment, they're just completely bogged down with trying to get things done, and job roles are now um, you know, amalgamating into one person buying 50 million categories. They just don't have the time to go and actually think outside the box, look for new suppliers. And I'm I'm generalizing, I'm sure there's lots of people that do, but there are a lot of people out there that the part the fun parts of the job that are what makes you get into it the first place, there's becoming less time for that. And what we really want to help with is all of that, all those amazing fun parts of the job, in a place where you can access it and you can find out and you can start to be sparked and inspired and go off and find new ways of improving your categories. And it's it's such a shame that it's got to this point in the role where there's not much time for that. But we're you know, we're very much talking about, like you said, the tools that you can use to help sort of your processes and your efficiencies get better so you can get back to doing those things, and you know, it's not just about recommending shops to look at and trends to follow, but it's like what podcasts are out there to listen to, what events are there to go to, what what documentaries are there to watch, you know. We've we are doing all that research for them to help them see that there are some massively inspirational tools out there, but it's just really hard to find the time to find them.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, and time to get out, I think that's one of the biggest ones, exactly as you say. Like I've seen it throughout. I remember being like, and this was years ago, being like, Well, I can't get out. I am tied to my desk, I've got orders to raise, I've got prices to negotiate, I've got a launch that's about to go. And I remember my buyers saying it before me. I remember saying it as a buyer to my team, I remember saying it, you know, as a head off to all my teams like get out of the office. Please, can you just go into store? Go into your store, go and look at other stores, just get out. Like have a fresh pair of eyes on things because otherwise you get very blinkered, very siloed, very much just looking at what you're doing. Yeah, and there's nothing better than looking at what other people are doing. But we get it, time-strapped, you know, and especially when it comes to seasonal events, like did you know, Valentine's Day? That came and went. I completely missed it. Today came and went, but we've done it, we've gone out and we've got the pictures for you. And honestly, just one snapshot of what the shops look like and what were some of the key messages that were coming out. So easy to look at. Yeah, you might be all looking at the same thing, but you're all gonna take different things from it, and I think that's important as well. It's not like, oh yeah, but if they're looking at it and they're looking at it and they're looking, we'll all do the same. Do not copy, but you should know that from the beginning. What does every design brief say? Inspiration only, please do not copy. That's exactly what it is. Like, just don't copy. Someone's already done it, it's boring, it's old. Yeah, we're gonna move it on. So take it to know what people were doing, what was it looking like, what were people focusing on, but what are you gonna do to make yourself look different next year? Um yeah, exactly, exactly. So, as we talked about, you know, retail is changing, times are changing, right? So everybody's like pretty much time strapped, you're stuck to your desk, it's really hard to get out, and that's totally understandable, you know, and there's so many things going on. I mean, we can't not talk about some of the more like geopolitical issues that we've got and the pressure that is coming down, like you're you know, you think you're having a fine ride, and then something out there which is absolutely awful, catastrophic, happens, but it massively impacts your day-to-day.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

And I'm not taking any light off what's happened and the situations that are going on, which are just absolutely terrifying, but it does impact your day to days. So, as we talked about, you know, retail is changing, times are changing, right? And AI is hot on our heels as well. You know, what is the future of retail buying? You know, we kind of need to be at the forefront of shaping that. And I think learning and developing is kind of and and looking for that support, as you kind of mentioned earlier, Linz, like is so important. Like we one of the biggest topics that comes up time and time and time again is about wanting support. And I think people are much more open to investing in themselves now. I think we're much more aware about burnout, as you've mentioned, about you know, pushing ourselves too far, about having that balance. And we put out a survey with Life of a Buyer, and one of the biggest topics that came back was you know, 70% of people struggling with burnout and managing workload. Like that is huge, massive. And one of the biggest areas that people wanted from a membership club such as this was learning and support. It's a huge topic. I think what's really important to note is like we are stronger together, right? So if we want to make change, we see change happening, let's not let change happen to us. Let's speak up and speak out, you know. Life of bias created this incredible community, you know, an amazing platform where people could share information. And it's really kind of like unlocked quite a lot of that communication between knowing what's going on behind these closed doors, as we talk about, you know, retail being quite gatekeeping, but it's still so anonymous. And actually, really to make a difference, we need to be, you know, and we need to we need to be the ones that are all coming together as as a group. And you know, I get it, not everybody wants to have their face out there. Totally get that. We're happy to be the faces, and we're happy to push forward for that change, you know. What what is it gonna be? But we need those voices with us to help make the change, be the change. Yeah, sound like I'm on a protest rally now, which I'm not quite getting my placards out yet. But we're definitely stronger in numbers, and there is so much, you know, discontent in in retail buying that actually let's speak up and let's make a difference and let's make a change, let's just not not just moan, let's make a difference. And I've gone off on a little bit of a tangent there because we were talking about learning and support, but I think that's where it kind of comes from learning and support and the support being the biggest one of actually how am I going to do this? What tools are there out to kind of out there to help me in my day-to-day, but also learning, because I think, as I've said, AI can't ignore it, you know, whether it's been built with male bias, whether a female's built it, depending on which platform you're using, it is being integrated into almost every part of our lives, and it's not going away. So, how can we redefine what our roles are going to be?

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And we want we want to give that kind of information on on the site, don't we? You know, that is going to be incredibly supportive to to every level of role, really. Um, you know, our our top tips, anything, any information and knowledge that we've found that we can pass on to you, sort of in a bite-sized way. It's it's gonna be an empowering section of tools, tips, blogs. Um we've got our own a little section on there where you can have a one-to-one with us as well, can't you? So um, if you want to have a little catch up, it's an interesting one, that one, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Because it feels a bit like you know, putting yourself on a pedestal, being like, um, you can come and speak to us if you like. It's not like that at all. Hesitant about whether we're, you know, we put ourselves up there. We are not coaches, we are not trained coaches, we are buyers, we are retail buyers who've been there and lived it, and we also love to chat. And we've also chatted to so many people that we have learned so much just through talking to people, and we know what it's like just to get a bit of advice. And it was actually something that a couple of people had fed back to us that we have met independently, and that's what's interesting. Both independently had feedback from people that we've met through our careers that we still stay in touch with that will call us with a quick hey, what would you do in this situation? Or this has come up, how would you approach this? And often them are retail-based kind of questions, but also about how you might speak with an you know a colleague, whether that's managing up or managing down, or whether it's how do you present a set of figures that you want to say at certain to tell a certain story. And it was a couple of people that we've been chatting to, and we told them what we were doing that all sort of suggested that this could be a really good benefit as part of the club is just to speak to people that have worked in retail, that are not in your day-to-day business, that understand and have experienced a lot of this, and just to have a bit of a second opinion and a bounce it around. So we have opened up five slots a month in total. So they will go quick, but it's just a really casual chat with us. Tell us what your problem is, let's talk it through. And it's just a quick 30-minute one-to-one.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Yeah, yeah. Super, we're super excited to do that because we just we do really we don't want to, you know, start a membership pub where we don't get to talk to you as well. We want to hear from you. You are the ones helping to build and shape this, and I think that is such a big part of what we do with our podcast as well and our socials and you know, our events that we started last year. I mean, the events side of the membership is is so important to us, and I think it gets you out there, gets you meeting people, gets you talking to people, gets you learning new things. That is a massive part of the membership, isn't it? The whole section, which we've care we've sort of carefully crafted to be, you know, in person, online, and what else is out there? So there's an it's not just about coming to our networking events, it's about what else is out there for you to do wherever you are in the UK, um, whatever time you have, you know, there's there's suggestions for webinars on there as well, which I think is just incredibly helpful now because, like I mentioned before, you just sometimes don't have time to research all this, or you miss adverts on LinkedIn, or you miss finding out information on things that are on. We want to just create a space where we can put all that knowledge and all that information for you so you can pick and choose what you go to, what you've got time for, what you're really interested in. Like there's some incredible webinars out there that you know I didn't I didn't realise existed. And again, it's to encourage you to go to not just the ones about your category, but your the ones about other categories as well. I think there's a really good one on there this month about pets and and pet food and and the future of it, but there's some other really interesting um processes and ideas around that subject that is just really exciting and interesting to learn about.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

So we're putting them on your radar because so often, as you say, you just miss them, you don't know they're happening. Like I just happened to be on LinkedIn yesterday, and suddenly I got a oh, fashion snoops are doing a spring summer 28 colours. And I was like, oh, interesting. I love that kind of stuff. Yeah, I'll play that. If I hadn't have been there at that time, I would never have noticed it. Yeah. So it's pulling these things together. WGSN often do the trend talks as well. Or there are, as you say, just like Mintel do things like that. It's like statistics and telling you, or it's fashion exhibitions, which often I find out two weeks before they're about to end. So Chaparelli's just opened at the VA. And it started uh end of starting end of March, and it's one of those ones that I'd probably in the summer be like, oh Chaparelli, I really like. Oh, oh god, oh, it finishes. I can't go till September, it finishes end of August. It doesn't, by the way. Just saying that. But as an example of those events, is just so it's there and it's at your fingertips, you don't have to search for it. Because often those are just like word of mouth, or you're just right place, right time.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Exactly. And you know, like even sort of really niche trade shows, like we have all heard of the really big ones like Spring Fair, Top Draw, you know, or or whatever's really specific to your category. You've got them in your diary, you've got them in your calendar, you go every year, you know what you're gonna get. But some of the really tiny little niche ones are incredible to go and find new emerging brands and talent. And again, some of them have some really great talks, so you know, it's really important to go to these and go not just to go to find new brands, but go to go to the talks, go and meet people. And you know, we're only finding these because, like Kate said, we're doing the research for you. We're sat on LinkedIn quite a lot of the day. I would never have been on LinkedIn as a prior in my role. Like, I have no time between having to go back to like a hundred emails a day, uh off to a showroom appointment, planning a trip, you know, pulling together my strategy pack, getting the sign-off pack ready, actually laying out a sign-off, you know, going to a hundred million meetings of never actually at my desk. When have I got time to go and find out all this information? So I think for me, this section would be so valuable, you know, in industry.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Yeah, that's your little baby, that bit, isn't it? And I can I I totally see the value in it. So the events that we're doing, as you said, they're gonna be in person, which we are so excited to do again because it's just nice to get out and see people and people that like feel the same and have the same ideas and um just sharing experiences is lovely. And so we're taking them further. So not just London, we're going to Edinburgh on Wednesday the 25th, which is actually gonna be the day that this goes out. Yes. Um, and then we're gonna be doing London in April, and then we're going to Manchester, which we are so excited about. If you caught any of our um retail reflections back in the summer, I don't think we went a week without talking about something that was going on in Manchester, whether it being a flagship opening or some event that was going on that was retail relevant, a new brand that was launching. Manchester was on the map. Um, and we'd had quite a lot of feedback as well from our events in the summer. Can you come to Leeds? Can you come to Derby? Can you come to Nottingham? Can you come to Liverpool? Can you come to Bristol? Lots of great areas, and we can't go everywhere yet. Um, but definitely we're expanding, we're expanding out. And you know, they'll be next on the list. 2027 will be there. But in person's really nice to be able to just have a little bit of a break from the day to day, but be surrounded by people that get it. Yeah. But also we're gonna be offering them online because we can't go to all those different places, and there's nothing better than still having a chat with people that get it. So we're gonna be doing our retail therapy Tuesdays because after you've done your Monday and your Tuesday and you're just exhausted, you just want to have a laugh really about something that's happened, or you need a bit of a pick-me-up if it's been a tough week, um, or you just want to celebrate with others, and again, it's not bringing your figures, no one cares. But yes, if you've got a best seller, woo-hoo, I'm championing you. I'm so excited for you. If you've got a bit of a sticky situation where you've got too much stock and you're not sure what to do, talk it out. You don't need to tell us what the product is, but you can brainstorm it, have a bit of a bounce it off with people. Um you don't have to talk shop at all.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Yeah, just come and and just like you bring your passion, like so many of us, just we love product. Like, let's talk about all the best products that we've seen out there at the moment, you know.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

So many funny things, funny finds or exciting things, and and it's fun meeting people, right? I think that's we're real people people anyway, but I think a lot of buyers are, you know, and and through our podcast, we've met so many people, and we've heard from so many listeners, and you know, we all really enjoy the job, you know, and we can we all make each other laugh with the things that have happened, and it's really nice to be part of a club where we all just bounce off each other, yeah, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

And you know, we can't we can't sort of skim over the podcast because the podcast is kind of what's got us to this point, isn't it? As you know, we've mentioned before, we've always wanted to have this sort of membership available to our industry, but we started our journey through our podcast, and that's how we've learned and listened and found you know all the pain points and the the similar, the similar just frustrations and the similar in like loves of buying. Like every episode that we start with some of our podcast guests, everybody just says the same thing about why they love it, don't they? They they love it because they love product, and when they first discovered buying, they were sort of all all have this similar, like, oh my gosh, you can get paid to buy stuff, you know. It's it was all the same, similar, like you we week a moment. Is that the right?

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Yeah, and all just from creatives that love design and designing products, but also really interested in people and why people buy things and what would make them buy or not buy things, but from being involved in those products and creating things and doing a bit of the kind of price engineering and being really commercial in in kind of your mindset.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we've got a whole amazing section on the membership, all dedicated to the podcast and sort of extra behind the scenes content with um some of the guests that we'll have on that month. You've you get a sneak peek as to who's coming, who's gonna be on the podcast that month. Um, lots of deep dive as well into some of the topics. Just say that again. A deep dive into some of the topics. Yep, exactly. And also, you know, just a a preview on all the incredible guests that we've had on. You know, which episode can you can go back to, listen to, who's been on. It might be a certain thing that your topic that's really on your mind, you know. Like we've we've talked about sustainability, we had uh the head of secularity of Primark on the podcast a good few weeks ago, probably a good few months ago now. There's you know, we had a technologist on, we've had designers on, we've had so many different people on that touch different parts of the industry, different, different product categories. So we've had a plant buyer, we've had a wine buyer, we've had a buyer from some windows, we've got coming up like FMCG buyers, like everybody. It's it's such an incredible multi-mix of categories that that we've touched on. And we really just wanted to make sure that everyone kind of understood that they could they can tap into that as well. Live QA. I was just gonna say, and also we're offering a live QA with one of our guests every month. So you can actually log on and ask the questions that you want to, because you know, sometimes when you listen to a podcast, you're like, oh, I wonder if they know about this, or I wonder if they know about that. Um, or if you don't want to speak, you can send your questions ahead and we'll ask them. But yeah, we want to make sure that you have a bit more interaction with our guests because they are all incredible people and give you that, you know, spotlight to ask your questions, really.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

And I always feel like I leave the podcast still with so many questions because we're time limited, you can't I could talk for hours, and I always still have so many things that I want to ask them, and I so I see it as a great opportunity as well to get them back and ask them some more things.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

We also started in the summer, as I mentioned just earlier, the retail reflections, which has been just our opinion really on things that are happening in the world of retail each week. Now, we paused that because we've had so much going on, but we are bringing it back but under the membership. So that is a membership perk that you not only get an update every single week on a quick 20-minute download on your way to work, but also we'll make sure that it lands straight in your inbox as well, so you can see the top five things that we think are important across retail because we're really kind of stressing. Just because it's happened in food doesn't mean that it's not relevant to you if you're buying toys or just you know, or pet foods on the app. Because we all know people only have a certain amount of wallet, so where is that gonna go? So if there is a particular trend in one area, more than likely you're gonna see a decline in another area. Now, we're not saying that definitely you're gonna be buying pet food, therefore you're not gonna buy food for yourself. I'm only eating baked beans because my pet dog is having gourmet beep every day. But there definitely is, you know, uh trends that will happen that will therefore directly or indirectly impact. Um, and while we're on what we're sending to your inbox, we'll just give you a monthly inbox. We don't want to be filling you up. My inbox is way, way busy and can't see the wood for the trees sometimes. So we don't want to inundate you with emails, but we do think it's quite important to just give you a quick heads up on some of the things that are going on, some of the things that we are spotlighting for that particular month. So, two newsletters and lots of events to join in, lots of blogs, um, lots of information, lots of tools, and we cannot forget the last thing, which is the treat.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

So, we have teamed up with a few different products and services for our buyers and to give you guys a little bit of a perk. You know, we all love a perk as a buyer, and so we're giving some really juicy discounts on products that we love and we think could be really uh topical for you. And we want to give you some services that will help you with uh well-being, help you to relax, help you to switch off from the job because it can become really all-consuming, can't it? In in a in a in a negative and a positive way, because you're so passionate about what you're doing. Sometimes it is really hard to switch off. So we want to offer some services that will help you with that.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

So, yeah, so if you want to check it out, it's www.jointhebuyersclub.co.uk. And I think we've given you a really good insight into what is there at the moment. A little taster of what we're launching with. We've got big ideas. Um, we think there's so much more to offer. Um, we think that the industry deserves so much more, and so there is a lot still to come. So what this space, but as we said, we're wearing all the hats, so we're only going as fast as our two little feet or four little feet between us can and um yeah, so there will be lots more to come, and um we're really excited for you all to join us um on our journey. I honestly I wonder sometimes if you counted up the number of times that we say journey in our podcasts, because everything is a journey, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, how you get there. And often if you go on a buying trip, the journey is the biggest part of the trip. Yeah, because you spend most of the time travelling than actually at your destination. Anyway, total tangent again. This has been a long time coming, and it's been so many ups and downs, so many late-night phone calls, so many voice notes that we have to listen to double speed. Um, although then you have to slow it down to 1.5 because you're like, no, I missed that, missed that bit completely. They were way too excited, and then I had it playing on double speed, and I miss completely what they've said. But it's been lots of conversations, meeting lots of people. We've oh honestly met so many incredible people in retail, and we will continue to shine the light on these people in retail and share all of our learnings and our knowledge because that is one of the biggest things for us. It's all about collaborating. And I think we talked about it a little bit before about how so many other careers have got these spaces where people share information and share ideas and share their love for what they do, and that's what we want to do. Make it fun. Make it fun. So there's so much still to come, and we're so excited to bring this to you all. And we love feedback. I think we've said this so many times. Feedback is a gift, whether it's good or bad, take it on the chin. We just want to make this for you, for retail buyers, for the whole retail community, whether you're a category buyer or whatever your title, you might be a category manager, you might be a retail buyer, you might be an assistant buyer, you might be a buyer's clerk, you might be a buyer's admin assistant, but ultimately it's for the retail buying community. And if you've got any questions at all, please do contact us. We've got a section on our website, you know, why join? Um, there's a few FAQs on there. Um but if there's anything you want to know, feel free to fill in the form and that comes straight to us. Or of course, you can email us at hello at jointhebuyersclub.co.uk. Or you can DM us on Join the Buyers Club Instagram. We're also obviously always on Buying and Beyond, but we want to put a bit more kind of about our events. So I think we've talked for enough time now. I hope we've given a really good overview as to kind of what it is and what it includes and why we started it and what the benefits are. But um, yeah, we of course could talk, or I definitely could talk for hours and hours and hours. So I think it's best to stop us now. Lindsay, give me a little time check. Yes. And it's time to sign off. So we will be back next week with a really exciting uh entrepreneur. Um, I mean, absolutely phenomenal. She started her own brand at such a young age, and I think it's incredible to see the entrepreneurship. And also, it just feels very, very aptly timed because it will be into April. Can you believe it? Honestly, these months are flying by. So, yeah, join us next week um where we speak with our next guest.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

Thanks for listening, guys, and we really hope to see you in our club and one of our events soon. Drama just makes things interesting. That's true. All these thoughts and opinions are our own, and based on our own experiences working for a wide variety of retailers. These are all in the hope to entertain and educate and not to reflect negatively on any place we currently or have previously worked.