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) to the exploding world of experiential retail, AI disruption, and the importance of supplier relationships, this episode is a must-listen for anyone working in or aspiring to get into buying.

They explore how the retail landscape has shifted dramatically - with TikTok-speed trend cycles, global influence flattening cultural differences, and the rising pressure on buyers to not just know their own category, but to understand the entire market. They also tackle the hot-button topic of AI in buying: is it a threat or a tool? And what does it mean for entry-level roles like BAs?

Plus, they discuss the value of tracking leadership moves, why travel is non-negotiable for building supplier relationships, and how commercial awareness can fast-track your career growth - even if you're still early in your buying journey.

Three Key Takeaways:

1) Good buyers know their category-  great buyers know the market. Staying on top of competitor moves, store openings, leadership changes, and cross-category trends isn't just interesting; it directly informs smarter buying decisions, better range planning, and stronger performance in trade meetings and sign-offs.

2) AI should redefine buying roles, not replace them. AI can and should take over admin-heavy tasks to free up buyers for creativity, product development, and supplier relationships. But removing entry-level roles like BAs would be shortsighted - the experience, problem-solving, and institutional knowledge built at that level is irreplaceable.

3) Commercial awareness is a career accelerator. Buyers who understand the wider retail landscape - spending habits, macro trends, competitor strategy, leadership shifts - are the ones who progress fastest. Whether in an interview, a trade meeting, or a sign-off, knowing what's happening in the market lets you contribute with confidence at any level.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

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

SPEAKER_00 0:16

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

SPEAKER_01 0:23

So grab your drink of choice and come and have a giggle with us.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Quick one before we get into the episode. If you're a retail buyer and you're based in or around Manchester, we're hosting our next buyers meetup this month, and we'd love to see you there.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

We'll also be joined by Lavana Gates, aka the buyer's coach. There'll be a drink on arrival, a goody bag, and plenty of time to meet people who just get what you do.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

It's happening on Wednesday, the 20th of May at the Corn Exchange, and the early bird tickets have just gone on sale. You can find all the details in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

We'd love to see you there.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Hi! Hi! We are back. In this week's episode, it's the two of us talking about our favourite subjects.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Retail. Yep, it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

We love to find out what's going on in retail. The big stories, the store openings, changes in leadership, new product launches, the sad closures. And there's been some big stories so far. I mean, it's a turbulent time, as we say. Like there's always something going on in retail, isn't there, Lynns?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yeah, definitely. And I think we talk about it weekly, don't we? And I was such a big important part of our roles, especially when we were a bit more senior, to really like find out what was going on on the ground. And you know, we don't want to walk into a trade meeting and just be like, I didn't know about that. Tumbleweed.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

I remember that once when And Other Stories first launched in the UK, and I remember being in a trade meeting and them talking about And Other Stories and the store that had opened just off Oxford Street. And I was thinking, I've never even heard of this brand. Don't even know what And Other Stories is, let alone the fact that the stores opened. And you're just sitting there and you don't want to look stupid, and you're just like nodding along. Yeah, yeah. And it stuck in my mind so much because I remember coming out and it had come up, I think, in a few people's trade meetings, and everyone was just buzzing, talking about it, and like you you were like a cool girl, and if you knew about it, and it was just like, What is it? Did you know about it? Have you heard about it? And I kid you not, I rushed there after work that day. I was like, cancel all plans, I'm getting there. I need to go and see what this is all about, what everyone's talking about.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah, but it is so hard, isn't it? To like keep up, and you're sort of thinking to yourself, how has anyone else found the time to know about how do people know about this? Like, what how how have I everyone looks as manically busy as I am? No one has hardly any time to eat, pee, drink, socialize, you know, like how have they had the time to find out about this hype? And it was a constant bugbear for me.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

I'm like, what am I missing out on? Yeah, how do I not know this? I don't have time to like sit and trawl everything and have my everything all the time. And and you're all consumed as it is anyway, you're already often working, like you know, maxing out those hours, and you're already all consumed by it. And I get it, you know, we're now so much more aware of those signs of being too consumed by it, you know, being super passionate, really loving your roles, really loving what you're doing, but it's all you talk about, it's all you know when it becomes your entire personality, and we don't want that, and we don't advocate for it becoming your entire personality. But on the other hand, if you're interested in it, it's good to kind of keep an awareness going. It might be something you might, you know, look out on your way into work or maybe on your way out of work, you know, just kind of almost decompressing with stuff that's going on that's relatable, but it's not in the day-to-day. Yeah. Sometimes it's fun if you're interested in that kind of area that you want to go and see what it's about, if you're interested in a particular category. And also it's good to know what's happening outside of your categories.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, definitely. And what you can be inspired by, what shows, what exhibitions are on, what colabs have happened recently, and how you could potentially be in, you know, inject that into your range. I I just found there was just so many places for this information that I just didn't have time to trawl through them all, you know, and I don't I'm not bashing any of the of the of the publications there out there. I think there's some amazing, amazing publications. Um, you know, we used to look at pay people like Retail Week, Drapers, and it's great, but you just sometimes don't have time to go through all of those, do you? And you know, use sift through stuff that would be really interesting to you, or sift through a really long article. It's super interesting, but you just want the headline, you just want to know what other people are thinking and just get some top get some ideas about it.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

I think also because the uh what I've always found interesting about those, and like drapers in particular, I always really liked reading a copy of that, is because they've got opinion pieces, but it's not necessarily something that is happening right now, but it might just be a key figure at a large retailer, or it could be an you know, sort of smaller but fast-growing business, and it has sort of opinions on that, and it's not always retail buying specific, you know, or you know, it could be about their marketing strategy and things like that, which are all really interesting, but not always relevant and happening right now. I do think there's a place for that. And if you if you're interested in reading about it, there's some really good points that come out of it. But I think one thing that really helps when you're going into a trade meeting or you've got a sign-off is knowing what the retail landscape looks like right now and what's happening and what's going on, you know, having that kind of retail awareness, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, because we become become also when we work for brands, and we've done this ourselves, we've fallen, we've fallen prey to this. You become all-encompassing of your own brand, don't you? And you don't look outside, and you're kind of you drink the Kool-Aid, is that the expression? You know, and that there's certain retailers that there's definitely that kind of culture, and you don't aren't necessarily encouraged to look outside, but everyone's doing it. They are, they are, they're doing it.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, you need to, you know, it helps buyers to really understand market positioning, you know. Watching competitors helps a buyer to really understand like where do they sit in the market and who are they competing against, and are they leading or are they following trends? And if they don't have that external awareness, as you say, you can become very inward-looking. And we've talked about it before about staying in your lane, not worrying about what other people are doing. And I agree, not worrying necessarily, but at the same time, if you're not aware of what's going on and what people are interested in and what the general consumer consensus is, then you're just gonna get potentially lost. And are you then just lucky? Yeah, it works.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Yeah, exactly. And you can start to see some themes, can't you? Like we've we've talked so much, you know, from our retail reflections, which we started in the summer, which I'm so glad we did because I think it's just really kept us in the in the market and in the know. But there's been some themes coming through which are just getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and there won't be any like sort of new news to people, but experimental retail experience in store is just such a huge topic, isn't it? That we constantly are looking at and we're constantly trying to find ways to get to the consumer in a different way because of the multi-way of purchasing. You can't just hang up some product on a rail or put it on a shelf in a shop anymore. You've got to have something else going on to drag that customer, drag that customer, to you know, have that customer through the door. And we're seeing that in so from so many different retailers, aren't we?

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Definitely, and I think you're so right. Seeing experiential retail is so key. And then it's learning from other businesses and seeing what they're doing, you know. Innovation often comes from seeing things outside of your company and being inspired by it, not copying, but how do I do something like that? That's a really cool idea. How do we do that? Yeah, but in a way that speaks to our customer, you know, you're borrowing that idea, you're adapting it, you're moving it on, you're evolving it, you know, whether that is, as you've mentioned, the experiential retail, but it could be, you know, anything like to drive customer behaviour, whether it's I don't know, a loyalty app or a sustainability initiatives, you know, it's really looking at that wider retail landscape.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, definitely. And offering services as well, offering services that solve a problem for your customer and also get some excited about being in your brand and seeing your brand more as like not as a transactional thing, like as a support to your life, I guess, you know, and yeah, wanting to kind of just bring you on a bit more of a journey. It's been incredible to look at that, and also I think we sometimes just look at the UK and we really shouldn't be just looking at the UK. We have to be looking at this on a global scale, and I think it's always really fun when we find something in the States or you know, in Europe, and even in we've even touched on some bits in Australia, haven't we? Like just different things that different markets are doing. And I used to love that from a product point of view when you would go out to China or Vietnam, India, and just see from the factory side of things, like what other markets are doing. So, why shouldn't you know that is really inspiring, isn't it? So, why shouldn't we be looking at that from a store execution point of view? So, yeah, I've really loved looking at different brands overseas, and I don't think our markets are as dissimilar anymore like they used to be. I mean, I think when we first started out in buying, you were like, nah, that wouldn't work for us over here. No, that's that's not a thing. But people are becoming a lot more open to a different way of life, aren't they? I think just everything's become so much more global.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Like what's popular here, like as you're saying, you're not having so many differences in kind of what people are interested in, all these cultural differences are there, but I do feel like with globalization, they have been sort of, you know, softened slightly. And I think I mean the rise of social media and the trends that we have now, you know, particularly from sort of like the the speed in which things will kind of move through TikTok, you know, influences and like things going viral, you know, and that's worldwide. And then also not just the trends being able to move, but actually our speed to market has increased, you know. We are so fast, you can now see things from a trend that you've seen online to seeing it in the stores within weeks. So buyers that have an idea of what's going on and can watch those trends, but then also see what's happening in those stores, you know, that that monitor those kind of that retail news that are have that awareness, they react so much faster than buyers that will just be looking inwardly at the sales reports and reacting to what's working for them because you're gonna be seeing it before it's even happened.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. But using that information as well to be influenced, but still stay true to your values. We talk about this so much, don't we? Again, another trend that we've seen from when we started doing uh retail reflections, which has been probably about what, six months now, it's been really interesting to see brands try so many new things over a short period of time because retail is so fast-based and so fast moving. And if you don't try, you're not gonna keep up. And I think the ones that where we've seen, we can probably generalize this a little bit, the ones where we've seen things not working out is when they have tried something because someone else has tried it, but it's not right for their customer. So it's about picking the right things, isn't it? And going full force with your values as a retailer, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

And you can look to other brands and other categories to be inspired, and you can try something. And I think that's the thing. It is try it, but fail fast, take a risk, fail fast is one of the main things, but also don't be afraid to try something from somebody else, but only if it feels right for your customer. I think one, you know, looking at other categories is so important, you know, because you're all you're all competing for the same customer wallet, right? So even if you work in beauty, you are still competing with fashion, hospitality, travel, food, entertainment, you know, because customers have only got a certain amount to spend. So if they're spending heavily elsewhere, their spend in beauty might soften. Now that's an awful example because let's face it, beauty is one of the biggest growth categories right now. So that's not softening. But, you know, having an awareness that actually consumers only have a certain amount and then knowing that you understand what's happening, where the marketing's being driven. You know, I for example, I don't know, new Pretts opened. We love this story that we we read recently about Pret opening its first drive-thru. This is fabulous. But it might mean that instead of stopping off at a service station and popping into MS or, you know, a grocer, maybe, they might be actually going to a food outlet like that. Or it could be that instead of stopping off in a town nearby and maybe popping into a boots and picking up some beauty bits, that maybe they won't be going into town because actually the pret is now on the road. But it's like, you know, these are kind of like loose tangents, but it really helps you to think about actually what's happening in other areas. And as we've talked about as well, just recently talking about Salone and Milan, yeah, and about actually how other categories often predict what's going to be happening next. So it's not just sticking to what's going on in your category, you know, all of these different categories they influence each other constantly. Saloon is known as being kind of more furniture-based, but actually there was a huge fashion presence there, you know. And if you think about maybe kind of more of this kind of quiet luxury that we see coming through in fashion, actually you're starting to see it in beauty packaging and branding. And we know that wellness has moved in from supplements into kind of skincare. So there's all these types of things, and I'd say a good buyer watches their own category, a good buyer watches beyond their own category because retail trends rarely stay in just that one department. Yeah, 100%, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

And looking at, you know, going back to the Milan show, which is obviously my firm favourite, looking at brands like IKEA that often put on exhibitions about not product, but about the way a consumer's living. And I just I love I think IKEA is an impr is a really impressive brand for that reason because of you know, we we all know that the customer research that they do, they often have some of their team living in people's houses, and like it is an incredible brand that is following the consumer and isn't just churning out product that's not needed, following how we're living right now.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah, definitely, definitely. It's the macro trends that you talk about that actually that influence the wider way of actually how is a consumer going to shop.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yeah, exactly, which is incredibly crucial now, again, isn't it? As we are influenced so much by globalization, because we're we're all living differently, we're not all necessarily following one norm, right? Because we can see how we can have a better life because we're influenced by what Scandinavian countries are doing, or how you know what's going on in Australia. I mean, obviously, climate is uh huge, it's not much on the weather, but climate is a factor in all of this as well. And I think it's been brilliant to follow as well what's going on in sustainability and the legislation again affected by all the different markets. Because that is something as a buyer that really slows you down in your product development, doesn't it? Because if it's suddenly a big kind of you know, uh credential that your company needs to follow, you then have to almost throw away your product development and start again because you need to be following those same, those initiatives and starting to introduce that to your customer in the right way, in the in an authentic and value-driven way. So it's been incredible to see the shift in that and you know, highlighting the the real big worrying companies like Sheen and Timu and how much effect that's having on the industry, and and also understanding from a consumer point of view what they see those companies as. Because it's really interesting how a lot of people don't really understand the route to market from that point of view, right? Whereas a buyer, you're in innately thinking, oh my god, warning, warning, warning. But as a consumer, you're like, Oh, I can buy a dress for five pounds. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah, you're just thinking, oh, low, low pricing. And so then you're it's the two things, isn't it? It's one, it's the customer expectation. So, okay, well, customers are very, very focused on value, they can see that they can get these bits. So there might be like education pieces that you need to put around it. Like, how has this been made? Like showcasing a bit more of the kind of the real design process behind it to show like how important it has been to take that through that end-to-end process, working with like recruitable suppliers, like how it's traveled so far, or how you know, even the carbon emissions that have been, you know, on it, like people are so much more sustainably aware. So, how has it been made? How is it being produced? How has it been shipped? How has it arrived in that store? But also, I think you can then play into some of those points that maybe they lack. So while places like that can offer this really low price, their delivery times are often long. Like the lead times are quite long on them. So, actually, is there a way that you as a business need to be focusing on faster delivery and things like that? You know, so you're kind of seeing what you're almost doing a comp shop in your mind about it all, aren't you? Okay, well, where where what are the opportunities for us? Like, what are our strengths and against these players and these new initiatives that are coming out? And I think, as you say, the legislation I think can be a really big one, and things that can cut suddenly come in can actually throw you, and actually, if you're at the forefront of knowing what some of the changes are that are coming in, or for example, just knowing that we were talking about just earlier, April trading across the high street was the worst that it has been in 10 years. Um, you may have already seen that in some of your sales reports, or maybe you're a department where your sales are particularly doing particularly well, and you might have an overall understanding that actually it's not been trading so well, but actually the alarm bells might be going off with some of the conversations that are going on on that kind of top level. And if you're thinking you've got OTB to spend and you're excited and you're looking at what else there might be, or what you could put in, or you're planning your next range and you're thinking your budget is X size, well, actually, based on recent trading and maybe the outlook and the economic outlook, are they are those budgets going to be slashed? Are they going to be reduced? And you can be at the forefront before you do all of this work on developing all this great new product, knowing that actually, no, that the likelihood is so let's not sample as many. Or it's things like you know, just knowing what the market's going to look like. Again, it's based on like how much product you're going to be developing to put out there. Because I don't know, is it super sad news? You know, we have a lot of it at the moment of store closures, you know. Now really sad, but that also then indicates a declining footfall, pricing pressures, oversaturation, or changing customer habits. Or does it also open up well, if they're not there, we're potentially going to grow our footfall because they're not going to be going to that store anymore and we're aligned. So the likelihood is those people customers may be coming into our stores. On the other hand, it's really exciting to see new store openings for people because it's like brilliant, there's growth. But are they coming to your location? Are they targeting the same demographic? You know, is the demand going to be increasing for your product, or actually is the demand going to be shifting somewhere else? So it's all of those kind of things that can actually play into your buy for that season. Yeah, and the budget for a company total, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:51

You know, where where we where are we putting our money and where where what parts are the right parts to put the forecast in? Because I can only imagine that. the reforecasting has got worse than better because you know the number of times it would be like a right let's do a six plus six let's do a seven plus five as we're always rf one rf two and rf three an rf four and rf fourteen yeah yeah exactly exactly rather than right at the very beginning of the year looking at it from an outward perspective and a police like literally let's let's the the sales change week on week so much more dramatically than they ever have done before versus budget like they just do like there's not any real pattern the mind just becomes bigger and bigger and bigger the crevasse yeah it's like I was speaking to someone the other day that was saying that in terms of Halloween it you know we'd had such a great big boost in Halloween it like trajectory building up and this last Halloween wasn't that great and so they've bought down and you're like I bet you they're a really good Halloween this year and haven't bought enough because you don't there's not enough patterns anymore is there and can I just say I'm going off on a rant now and I feel like there's a lot of campaigning we need to do but if you don't travel as a buyer you're not really finding out this information because you don't have time to do the work and the research because it's a full-time bloody job keeping up on top of what's going on in retail and if you're not traveling and going and meeting suppliers and potentially bumping into competitors that are in the same showrooms or whatever you're not really getting that knowledge that you used to are you because as we are so pro, a trip is more than just going and checking on your product and product development and schmoozing, getting taken out for lunch whatever. It's more than that. It is the conversations that you end up having with all the different people that you meet along the way and you cannot put a price on the profitability of that right it's the innate gut feeling that you have it's something that AI I don't feel is really going to come and help us with because those conversations are golden aren't they like you can't like I remember one of my buyers MS used to say to me like there might be one thing or one product that you find on that trip that just brings in like half a million pounds worth of revenue and then there you go that trip was worth paid for done yeah I think you're so right that you can't replace those conversations and a VC doesn't cut it and you don't have the same relationships with suppliers if you're not there and meeting people face to face it goes with any relationship.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

It's not the same there's not that same level of human interaction and face to face it's so important those kind of offhand conversations we've said it I mean it mirrors it in terms of like going into the office and just having those tea point conversations. It's the same thing if you're not in a supplier room and you're not having those face-to-face conversations it's a big difference so I would definitely urge all those CEOs that are urging people back into the office because face to face is important to make sure that they reinstate those trips because face to face is important.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Yeah exactly exactly for the same reasons and I think again from our from from you know we our research and what's going on in retail at the moment AI has obviously played a huge topic in what we've been finding and it's been incredibly interesting to see what brands are doing to bring this on and we're not against AI. I think AI is is something that can really help the efficiencies of a buyer and also the junior levels as well because it frees them up to be trained to be a buyer right it's bringing it's you know uh the role has become so admin admin the role has become so admin heavy especially after covid when the responsibility on buying became tenfold didn't it in terms of like what we then had to think about as part of the business all the challenges we had they those kind of responsibilities didn't go away they stayed there and it just added to workload so yes bring in these AI tools to help with that but let's get back to the core of what a BA is a BA is someone that comes in runs the team is the backbone of the team absolutely but also is on a journey to becoming a buyer yeah totally agree you can't replace these roles I think we just need to redefine what these roles are you cannot remove an entire layer and you cannot remove an entire layer of the buying structure because how on earth are those people going to know how to buy like that's part of it it's one of the hardest roles to do at BAA especially when you come in just wanting to be a buyer and you look at boxes and all sorts like that but there are so many things that you learn you have to do a couple of seasons through really to understand it all to be an experienced head to know what to expect and what to do in certain situations and how to negotiate well what materials you know to be using you know there's an element of trial and error and there's always going to be room for creativity but also there's a a definitely a big need for learning knowledge sharing and expi shared knowledge and experience and I think it's quite terrifying quite recently there was there's been a a rumour shall we say by the time allegedly yeah I'm hoping by the time that you know you're listening to this that this hasn't come true but there are you know some large players in particular one big grocery store and also offers clothing looking to remove that entire BAA level and it just doesn't feel right. It's quite scary when you think about what the future might look like with AI coming in but I think exactly that it's not about replacing those roles is about redefining those roles bringing A in to support those efficiencies to speed things up to reduce the heavy admin to allow for more creativity to allow for more product development to allow for more trips more face to face with suppliers more collaboration across departments yeah because because let's face it AI is going to make everything look the same and we've already been saying that that's the case across the across the market right so you need to leave room to make that role back to the original creativity of what it was and room to be a buyer and I think it feels like and obviously I'm just sort of like trying to put my head into a place where I can try and understand why that might that rumour might be true it feels like a that retailer thinks that all they need is a buyer and that's all the level they need from a from a from that point of view. But it's it's kind of a bit short sighted isn't it because to be a good buyer you have to have done the things before you have to have really understood the process you have to have really got to grips with your product range you have to really understand who's the right suppliers to go to or what a good supplier looks like and you're not just going to get that day one I mean obviously there's some incredible training programs out there by certain businesses and graduate AI programs probably AI programs. But to get that in a hands-on in-person experience the history often what we used to say didn't we we'd have we've had a lot of team members that have been quite impatient to get to buyer as are as were we as I mean I'm gonna rule myself out of that comment but I think until you have done it for such a long time you don't realise the statement is true you can't really be a buyer without having that that experience and having those years under your belt because to become a buyer is to know how to problem solve. So you've got to go through problems and you've got to go through good times and bad times to be able to understand what the role is and how the role can you know to how to be a buyer.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

I think also learning from seeing a problem come in and then seeing someone else solve it and learning through that versus a problem coming in you having to deal with it not quite knowing how so making some mistakes along the way to eventually solve it. I think exactly as you said it could be quite short-sighted because the amount of money you could lose through inexperience and decisions being made that could have been prevented had there been the training and the learning as they've grown into those roles could be completely avoided.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Yeah yeah yeah I mean we don't know what's going on in the background then there's obviously a reason why they're deciding to do this. It would be incredibly interesting to know and if anybody's got any thoughts on this please do reach out to us and and we'd love to hear everyone's point of view. It's a huge topic isn't it it's something that I think we need to hear both sides of you know and we obviously feel very strongly for our opinion for obvious reasons but I would absolutely love to hear a counter opinion on it.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Yeah because I definitely there is a lot of AI coming and I'd say just based on everything that we hear from week to week there is almost always at least one story that is to do with AI in retail and we know that retail is I guess somewhat I'm trying to think of the right word and I can't think of it. Retail is quite old and slow in some of the processes there's quite a lot it's quite clunky in places you know running reports can be quite hard it could be quite a slog to get some information so it feels like it's right to be leaning into AI to help improve so you don't have to wake up at 4am to get into trade on a Monday morning you know so that the reports are there and the information's there a lot quicker. That would alleviate a lot of stress but yeah I would say that we don't go a week without hearing something for example All Saints having a new AI program that they've integrated just recently Zolando was talking about how their profits are up now part of the reason being because of an acquisition but also in part they're saying due to AI and being able to improve the efficiencies and therefore improving their profit. So you're definitely hearing more and more retailers talking about AI programs. I think lots are encouraged to use a Microsoft copilot now to improve sort of just sending emails and that's just the start that's just you know the very sort of initial start of it all we know that ASOF sort of had a huge team over the past few years doing a huge amount of business transformation where they've been focused on AI projects we know that the transformation director from ASOS has moved to MS recently and in general we've seen quite a lot of leadership moves and I think that's another thing that's really important for as a buyer I don't think I quite realise the gravity of it and I would really encourage people to have an awareness of like seeing where these where heads are moving because when a retailer hires like a new CEO or a buying director or a merchandising lead like it often signals like a shift because leadership moves often predict those kind of strategy changes whether that's pricing brand positioning customer targeting product strategy expansion plans any of those things things that they've learned from a previous place that they're going to bring in you know it's really important to notice when those leadership changes are happening because often a strategy does then follow.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Yeah yeah exactly and just knowing about these brilliant people because there's not enough mentoring in if you know that someone is moving to a business because of their background it's only really highlighted in a headline in an article you know you don't really necessarily know that until they move and it's really incredible to find that out and why not just drop them a message on LinkedIn and say congratulations about your move I'd love to have a virtual coffee with you. I mean you know these people are incredibly busy so it's unlikely that they will have the time but they'll also they'll know that you sent that message and they'll clock you and if you're ever interested in going to that company or going to a company that they've worked at they can be like oh yeah remember they reached out to me you know people remember stuff don't they even if they're not replying back.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

And that's an interesting point in terms of looking to see where they're going and actually if you if they seem inspiring or you can see what they've done in one place like there's certain names that really like resonate with me. You know I mean Jane Shepardson she's an absolute icon right um and then think about some others that we've talked about so Paula Bonham Carter she's super well known amazing Kate Bixtaff yeah she did amazing things Alex Dimitri fantastic I mean Julia Darlington we had her on but knowing these kind of these figure heads these really inspirational and I do realise I've just listed off five women there so I may be biased there are some incredible men obviously in free tale but knowing where they do exist yeah they do exist knowing where these heads have gone to knowing that actually they're probably going to bring some of the I mean we heard Kate Bickerstaff left MS to go to BQ and we were like wow Alex Dimitri left MS kids to go to white stuff so it's gonna be amazing to see okay what the differences are and what do they take from one business and how the strategy then changes in those other businesses and it could be that actually if you've got your ear to the ground that that's actually you being like okay that's a great place for me to move next I mean a little off topic but really applicable is one of my childhood friends she was first going to go into fashion she was a personal shopper in the heyday when we first graduated it was a really good place to be and particularly in luxury fashion because when going into fashion we were all really excited really super keen but obviously there was a bit of a recession going on but luxury wasn't really touched. So being well placed in Harrods was great and then she moved into sports just in time for the Olympics so just a couple of years before she moved into sports and then she moved she was just ahead of it she was ahead of it she moved into being a sports agent but it meant that she could experience all these amazing things as part of the Olympics and then from there most recently she's moved into interiors but again before the interiors trend really took off and just her sort of almost like having her ear to the ground and spotting where these trends are going and moving herself into the right position so that she could be well placed to actually work within a really thriving environment.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Yeah for sure for sure and also just knowing a bit more about the skill sets these people bring is a fantastic thing to mention at an interview isn't it like if you're because interviews I feel like interviews these days are becoming again quite robotic especially the automation process of actually scanning over a CV is done by a robot now isn't it and you know a lot of a lot of people are using the same questions to ask people obviously from a fairness point of view but from again it's all generated by AI these questions. So if you've got something really memorable and incredible to say that is you know probably not what most people are going to bring I think it's really important to to just be aware of what these people are doing and why they're doing it.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

Yeah and something that really stands out exactly like hooking in on something that's going to make you super memorable and in terms of like being memorable and standing out I think knowing what's going on in retail as we've talked before keeps you one step ahead of everybody else. Absolutely you know you can contribute so much more confidently if you know what's going on in the retail landscape whether that be in an interview or whether that be in trade meetings or speaking up in a sign off no matter what your level is you know if you're a BA but you are really well versed on what's going on you can contribute because you know what you've got is valid.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Yeah absolutely and also if you don't quite understand it it's about asking questions and saying to someone have you seen this I'm I'm not quite sure what that meant like you know being inquisitive like no one ever like there's not a bad question out there. The fact that you're asking questions about certain subjects that you don't understand just shows an incredible willingness to learn and be a really brilliant buyer you know and your interest in it.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

And I do I totally agree with that and I'd also say though if you're not comfortable with showing that you're you don't know because you feel like it might be a bit of a weakness which it's not but another way to frame it is always to ask their opinion so say the statement the headline that you've read and ask them what their opinion is of it because then that starts to tease it out starts to give you a bit more context and then even with that you know you can say oh well I don't really know how I feel about it rather than I don't understand it. Yeah you know but it definitely gives you an edge and if you know about competitor launches and about market activity and that kind of changing customer behaviour like it really enhances you your I mean it's those awful words of like raise your profile but it does but in a really natural way of just talking about something and you know almost strengthening that kind of credibility that you have and probably will help support you with sort of decision making too yeah exactly exactly well if you've enjoyed this episode and have liked our sort of download on what's been going on in retail obviously we've been incredibly brief and just mentioned some of the trends we've noticed over the last six months.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

But every week we do this don't we Kate we do a bit of a scour of the market we we talk about anything really we digest it and give our opinion and break it down and say it I think in in words that make it easier to understand if it's something that is quite complicated as well.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

Sometimes those journalists can write in quite a lot of jargon and also give you context that is not always necessarily relevant. We just give it to you straight. Yeah we're straight to the point what's it about what does it do and what do we think and also we keep it short and snappy which I know is not something that you would necessarily associate with us being short and snappy to the point but we do keep it very short. It's a 15 to 20 minute download and it's available within the buyers club we upload it every single week and it's something that you can download on the way to work on the way back from work it's something that has you ready and prep before a trade meeting and we also have a a download as well so you can see the headlines that land in your inbox prior to a Monday morning. Because I mean really I think what we would massively encourage whether you listen to our download or you go and seek the information out yourself although we do it for you a lot quicker and easier is that the best buyers understand that the entire retail landscape is driven by customers trend and spending habits and that is moving across industries faster than ever you know good buyers know their category but great buyers know the market.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Yeah exactly and on that I'm blown away by that statement.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

That is an incredible summary Kate you know it makes you better in trade meetings if you're commercially aware you can contribute more confidently if you can see launches early it means that you can spot those trends before they become mainstream you can help you predict risk earlier you can spot changes faster and you can adapt and commercial awareness helps your career growth. So the buyers that progress the fastest are usually the ones that can understand the wider market they can talk confidently about the industry movement and they can think strategically beyond their own categories. And I think retail leaders have an expectation in buyers to know who's growing who's struggling what trends matter and what competitors are doing. So be that buyer god not to quote a training manual that I once had be that manager be that buyer oh wow get that back out and dust it up so that's our big download on all the things that we think a buyer needs to know today. We'd love to know your thoughts as we said we think AI is snapping on our heels as we know we feel like we don't want to replace the roles we just need to redefine them and I think as we said yeah being a good buyer and being a great buyer and the difference is about knowing what's going on around you.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Absolutely and it's fun it's really fun finding out about what's going on around you. I totally agree with that thanks everybody so that's it for today we'll see you next week see you next week if you've enjoyed listening to this episode please please please like and subscribe and leave a review and if you already have thank you thank you thank you

SPEAKER_00 44:10

We all need a bit of retail therapy, and this is the perfect time for you to offload about that super cringeworthy story. We would love to hear from you all, your funny stories and experiences, or even any dilemmas. And maybe we can help or at least find someone who can. And don't worry, we will keep these anonymous and remove any names and brands.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

We would also love to hear from you on any topics you would like us to talk about. Please send all of these into buyingandbeyond at gmail.com or drop us a DM via our Instagram page at Buying and Beyond. Kate, are you a drama queen? No. 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.