S9 E9 From Manchester to Japan: The Buyer's Guide to Trend Spotting

This week it's just the two of us - no guests, no agenda, just a good old buyers' debrief. A few weeks ago we headed to Manchester for the Buying and Beyond meetup, and naturally that meant hitting the shops. What followed was a wide-ranging conversation about what we saw on the floor, where smart buyers are finding inspiration right now, and how the digital landscape is changing the way we read trends. If you've ever wanted to know where to go, what to look for, and how to cut through the noise - this one's for you.

Key Takeaways

1. Know your customer and stay true to your brand identity.
   Manchester's retail scene was a masterclass in brand clarity. River Island's revival showed what happens when a brand stops chasing competitors and leans back into its core aesthetic. Meanwhile, M&S continues to prove that great product + smart outfit-building styling = appeal across generations. The lesson: customers are increasingly shopping by lifestyle and interests, not age.
2. You don't need a big travel budget to find inspiration.
   Japan may be the gold standard for retail theater, but Europe is packed with accessible alternatives - Paris neighborhoods, Amsterdam's sustainable design scene, Bratislava's independent makers, and emerging destinations like Slovenia. Closer to home, a visit to a completely different city (hello, Manchester) can shift your perspective in ways a quick local shop sprint never will.
3. Vinted and TikTok Shop are trend thermometers - use them.
   TikTok Shop transaction volume rose 80% year-on-year in 2025, and resale/sustainable product lines are forecast to account for 20% of apparel sales by 2028. Scrolling Vinted's most-liked items gives buyers a real-time, customer-facing read on what people actually want — a live data feed that's worth adding to your regular comp-shopping toolkit.

Want to go deeper on trend spotting and retail inspiration? Join the Buying and Beyond Buyers Club for curated trend analysis, inspiration trip guides, and more.

https://www.jointhebuyersclub.co.uk/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

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

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We're Kate and Lynn, and we are talking all things retail buying and beyond with real people in retail. So grab your drink of choice and come have a giggle with us.

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This episode is sponsored by the Buyers Club, our membership created for buyers by buyers.

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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. But it can also be high pressure and full on. The Buyers Club exists to support you through it all.

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

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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. Now let's get into today's episode. In this week's episode, it is just Lindsay and I. A few weeks ago, we headed to Manchester for our buyer's meetup. And while we were there, we did what any self-respecting buyer does. We went to the shops. We did. And there's something really valuable about getting out of your usual patch. You'll jump out of the office, do a quick half an hour sprint around the shops near you. But there's something really good about going somewhere completely different because you can see products styled differently. You can watch what customers are picking up and you can spot what's trending somewhere else. And I think sometimes it can really shift your perspective in a way that's hard to replicate anywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, for sure. And Manchester has just been on our agenda for a long, long, long time. We talk about it so much in our retail reflections that we do each week. And it is definitely becoming a bit more of a hub, a bit more of a buzz. And yeah, it was great to see some new brands. And look, I think brilliant to see how the MS was laid out there. Dare I say MS again. And like you say, see how differently it's been styled and just see products that you don't you didn't see before. What was your favourite store? I quite liked the store. I know. Yeah. I thought that was late. That was just really beautifully done. Really nicely had quite a nice architecture for the store as well. Like the format of it with all the with the kind of like really cold concrete staircase.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Oh my god, that was so steep.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Like you could tell you needed to be fit to shop in that shop to be able to get up and down those stairs. It was exhausting. The product itself I loved. I it was so soft. Yeah. So soft a touch. Yeah. Yeah. Really beautiful palettes. And I quite liked the attention to detail, like some of the piping and the sort of contouring on some of the sort of sports bras and things. Couldn't quite get over how much the shoes look like ons. Oh yeah. They were absolute dupes.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

I know, and I you can see how it's been translated into this country. I think that was quite nice to see how the Californian Californian, isn't it? How a Californian brand translates over here. And again, they're just I think they've done that really cleverly.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Yeah, it was really nice. I really loved how much Korean beauty there was. I know. So obviously they've got an amazing Sephora. It's like an absolute dream slash completely overwhelming. Well, I think Sephora do really is the kind of customer journey and directing you and signposting and pulling things out. And they use quite a lot of point of sale to showcase certain items or themes, like a whole sort of like top sun creams you should be wearing, like particularly when it was like face sun creams, they had areas that were like top talked about on like social media, rated products, so many of those things, but like lots of them. And then to go up to oh my goodness, what was it called? Soul Beauty ink.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yeah, it I don't know, it was overwhelming how many products you just wanted to take a picture of. I remember we were walking around the store and the and they were just like, Can you please just not get any can you please just not get any of the star any of the shots? And that I just remember thinking to myself, oh that's changed because when I first started doing comp shops, you just were really not allowed to take any pictures in the store, right? And remember like being in John Lewis and arranging all the suitcases in a row and then trying to take a picture of them, but and then feeling like someone's gonna escort you out at any minute.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

But they were really positive about it. But I guess any publicity is good publicity, and any sort of like social sharing is social proof, yeah, and is only gonna result in long-term awareness of their brand. So yeah, it was like, can you just not get any faces or voices of our staff in it? It was like, yeah, absolutely, don't worry, we're all about the product. But we also couldn't believe how many members of staff were in that store, yeah, and it was quite small as well. Quite a small staff at small store, and there were probably about eight members of staff and around three customers at that time, but I reckon they must just be very on the customer service, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

And also it is a product that kind of needs some explanation as well. It is a really personalized product, and there were some really innovative new techniques in there that I think probably need to be spoken about. Like, don't get me wrong, though, I really love the packaging, and I think you could be really inspired by some of the packaging in there for other product categories, but explanation-wise, for some of those things, I think, yeah, you need to be like, have you tried it? Have you thought about using it for this? And have you thought about your skincare routine? And this is one of our best-selling lines because of the what was the transparent skin that you might want to have, and also showing you how to use the product, testers so you can actually like feel it, but like how are you supposed to apply this?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Some things are quite self-explanatory. There was an amazing wall just of like face masks, weren't there? Yeah, and they're quite self-explanatory, but some of the other products, and it's just like, why do I need all of this? What's this actually gonna do for me? And do I use it all at once or do I just use one of these? Can be quite overwhelming, can't it? Lot, there was another store as well, another Korean beauty-specific store as well. It didn't have quite the same aesthetic. I can only imagine you get some great finds in there.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Yeah, it's it's it's interesting to see how much there was of that, like in that particular centre, right? So it's clearly something that is booming, as we know from the stats that we talk about all the time, anyway. Um, and we know how a lot of big brands are putting a lot of investment behind their beauty ranges and looking into all these different innovative ways of getting the skin and the technique that you want. Totally agree.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

I think if we think about customer as well, I'm just thinking about you mentioned MS at the beginning there, and I know we went moved, we moved on quite quickly because we feel like we've talked about MS quite a lot. But one thing that struck me in a conversation we've also had recently has been about who is the MS customer and what they've done quite well at the moment is seem to sort of move themselves to appealing to more customers that feeling like you're being spoken to. And I had a feeling that maybe some of the changes that they'd be making, they might have been losing this kind of more heritage older customer. But I was quite struck when we were in the Manchester store, which is so big that you have the opportunity to have all the products there, but there was something for everyone, and there was a large number of the grey brigade in there. Yeah, the grey brigade.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Is that what you call them? I've not heard that before, but I think that is probably a good way to describe terms just being coined now. Focus group? Yeah. There's one thing that I've often said, isn't there? Like I really obviously we really love what they're doing at the moment. But there's always been really good product in MS. There always has. It's just not been put in the environment the same environment that it's in now, right? There's and they have incredible design teams within that business and incredible processes to try and get that product range out, but it always seemed to felt fall flat from the environment and the marketing, and then that's what they really reel on. And you're right, they still have that core, they still have the core in it, and they still have they're still known for being somewhere that a particular generation wants to, they're still known for a particular generation knowing and understanding that they can get what they want from that brand, but they've just highlighted a lot more of the key products in a really clever way.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

I think the way that they've done it, in my opinion, has just been the way that they've styled the products. So my memories of going into MS is looking at an entire department. It's almost it used to be sold as it was bought. If as in a buyer has bought this range and it's all sitting here. So these are my cashmere cardigans and in every single colour, and they're all in this square footage, all next to each other. Whereas what they seem to do now is a lot more focused on the outfit building, which is the best way to social sell, best way to link sale, is actually building that outfit from top to toe, which I feel like with the sub brands like Autograph, and they did that quite a bit with they would build the outfits around the mannequins. But then when you walked around the rest of the store, it was very much like casual t-shirts. And you still get that to a point, but I feel like there's much more of those items in those everyday pickups that have been put in collections so you can see how to shop it and how to wear it. So those items are still there for every generation, yeah. But how they're shopped is a little different and how they're therefore appealing.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And we've talked, I think we've talked about this before with some of some of our other guests, that the way that people define age and clothing is changing, isn't it? So you're not so much about it always having to have a sleeve and it always having to have down to the floor, must cover your knees. Do you know what I mean? I'm just paraphrasing her. But it's like the way that we are being perceived with age and dressing is completely changing.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

And people are less buying for age and you're more buying for interests. What do they like to do? What are the the kind of the bigger what do they like to watch? What do they like to play? What are their hobbies? What's their lifestyle like? And addressing people in those kind of groups, regardless of age. Yeah. Even though age within that is probably a strong indicator of they are likely to be, but it isn't the end reason for buying that product.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

In terms of thinking about custom and people knowing who their customer is, one of the standout stores for me on that trip was River Island. Yeah. They were just back to their roots. They got their mojo back. Everything from the styling, from the music, from the trends that they've tapped into, from just like being quite loud and proud, River Island, and just going that extra mile with their detailing. They're not paired back. Even if it was clean girl summer, River Island's not clean girl summer. You want to be a bit extra if you're a River Island girl. You want that extra little bit of zhuzh or bling or something to make it quite distinctive and stand out. And that's what definitely that store just shouted, we're back.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Yeah, it was incredibly nostalgic, wasn't it? And we even photos with sunglasses on or look at these shoes. It definitely felt like a revival, didn't it, of a brand that needed a bit of a shake. I loved it. Thought it was great.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

And there were even pieces that I was just like, that's cool, but they're so river. That's not something I'm gonna buy. But I I can see the girl that would. Yeah. Jazzy. Yeah. And I think again it was about the outfit building. So similar to MS, you could see how those pieces were together. So if you wanted to be the river girl that wore the belly chain with the with the embellished shorts, with the big necklace, with the little crop top, with a little shawl over it, you could. But if you just wanted the little jewelled demit, little jewelled shorts to wear with a plain T, you could do that too. Yeah. So the styling was very much shouting River Girl, but you could so easily pick up just one really special piece that you personally, if you're a bit more paired back, could just make your statement piece and feel super comfortable and super happy in.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, definitely. I just I felt like we were transported back, genuinely. It was probably the best reverend store I've seen in a very long time. And they have had a hard, they've had a hard few years, haven't they? As a brand. So yeah, really great to see that coming through. The energy in there, the music. Classic some retro, some real kind of like RB classics. Yeah, they definitely have leaned back into their signature styling. And I think again, it's another thing that we're seeing with a lot of brands that are leaning back into their core heritage roots, are shining through, aren't they? Because it has been a bit of a time where people have been a bit lost watching each other and not staying true to their true values and inner voice, shall we say?

SPEAKER_00 13:19

And then so we're thinking about other places. Manchester was great for us because it's totally away from our like our usual haunts. Traveling overseas, like, where are the top places to comp shop this year? Like, where should people be looking for inspiration right now?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

A lot of people still talk, and it's probably not a brand new one, but a lot of people still talk about Japan, don't they, as one of the key destinations, certainly to go on holiday. And but from a innovation, product innovation point of view, it's definitely one if you can. If you can. People struggle to go to Paris, let alone Japan. So it's probably not one on the budget list, but it's definitely an area where people are becoming a lot more inspired by that country. It's yeah, it's one of the top destinations for people to these days.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah, I've been wanting to go for years, for at least a good 15 years, I'd say. I've been desperate to go to Japan for personal holiday, but also just think it's an incredible place to go. I think if you're on a Far East trip, it's one of those ones that you it's a bit of an awkward one to try and tag on, but if you're out that way anyway, it's an amazing one to do. It's been cited as the ultimate destination for retail theatre, which you can imagine, right? Yes. Attention to detail, art and commerce blended together. It really is an absolute hotbed for design and inspiration.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

And they probably were doing store experience before any anybody started thinking about it. It is definitely one of those hotbed destinations to go and check out something new for your format or your technical word is, or for your your in-store display and like how you can incorporate robots and AI and everything into your store experience. Yeah, I've been dying to go for ages as well. And yeah, when you say tag on, it's not really not a tag on, is it?

SPEAKER_00 15:20

No, but it's closer than going straight from here just to Japan and back. Yeah, for sure. I've always wanted to go because I've really loved the fast movement of Tokyo. I just think it looks so crazy and insane to be part of that real buzz. But then when you think of when you think of like the geis and the tea ceremonies, and you think about the blossom, it's a complete like just what's the word? But it's the complete opposite of each other. Yeah, the real kind of calm culture, but then the real fast pace of technology. Yeah. And I really love those.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah, it's a real melting pot of two things, isn't it? That really collide and yeah, just incredibly innovative. And where else would be on your list of places to go? I was talking about Slovenia at the moment, as a new Croatia. I think Croatia's been on the map for a long time now in terms of an incredible place to go to, especially in the summer months. But yes, Slovinia seems to be the next one. And I personally haven't been. I've got a few friends going. It's one of those alternative destinations to Austria or Italy, and it's got incredible landscape, and there's been a real movement towards affordable luxury camp camp. There's been a real movement towards affordable luxury glamour. Actually, one of my friends is there at the moment, and they have paid to stay on a bed of hay in the middle of a farm. So yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see what comes out of that because you know, I think we'd had we'd seen a lot of a lot of impact through sort of Croatia and Croatian cult, um, and just seeing how that comes through from the Slovenia. It looks incredible, and I yeah, I could just see myself swimming in the lakes and experiencing the food and it being one of those places that is not completely overrun by tourism just yet.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I absolutely adored my holidays in Croatia, so but it's anything like that, gorgeous crystal clear waters, really beautiful national parks, gorgeous huge waterfalls you can swim in, delicious fresh fish, and also really good value. And I can see the real appeal of Eastern Europe. Like Slovakia is also being one that's been touted as quite a good trip spot for retail inspiration. So Bratislava is quite a good hub for independent design. And so they're saying it's got a really kind of it's very accessible, but it doesn't have the kind of like the price tags that you see in the West Western Europe, and they just have so many sustainable, independent design things. So I think Amsterdam is always talked about as a place of like sustainable design and a really good place to go to to find very kind of eco-conscious brands. We know Scandy is very much on that. A lot of the Scandinavian brands are, but it's quite interesting then to see also this kind of central eastern, central Europeans sort of uh trends picking up.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah, and it's just one, like we said, Japan's too far away, really, for anyone to get that onto any travel budget. Come to closer to home, come to closer to the home European countries. Let's get back out there again and get into those. And Paris is always such a brilliant city to go to to come shop any category. I think it's so underrated the way that there is still so much there. So I think what we're trying to say is don't miss what's on your doorstep, really. And we know they're not completely on the doorstep, but they're incredibly more accessible to go and try. And if your manager, your director is saying there's no travel budget, just these places are just not inexpensive to go to.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

I think sometimes as well, people feel like Paris is done. You've done Paris, or we went to Paris last year, and I think what people forget is we're not just talking about central Paris because there are so many areas. Are they Aridos Aridosman? Totally got the wrong word, haven't I? Arundos, Arundosman. Yeah, Arisman. And there's so many of them, at least 20, if not 25 of them, of all these different neighbourhoods around Paris. So it's not always about oh my god, you can't miss, you can't not go to Lafayette, but it's not just about doing the main streets in the centre of Paris, it's definitely about getting out to these neighbourhoods, and some of them are really cool and not as sketchy as they used to be.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

You'll be fine. Yeah, the flea markets. Oh my god, I loved all the flea markets on the and just inside the periphery, which can be quite interesting. So stay safe. But I love stay safe. I haven't been for years, so I don't really know what we're talking about on that front. But yeah, the flea markets, I think, are just brilliant. And Bathina as well. There's just so much inspiration out there. And I think after we had we had a really incredible guest we spoke to recently, it's just you just gotta get out there, just get out there and see people living.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, I think it's so important just to absorb how people are living and just feel the cultures. But agree, as you said, you can't always get to Japan, and people we know are tightening up on trips. It's not always that easy. So if you can't get out on trips, like TikTok, now they can be incredibly overwhelming, right? The number of trends coming through daily, if not hourly, if not minute. And are they actual trends or are they some sort of hype that isn't really a trend that someone's done and then someone else has copied and someone else has pushed really far? And suddenly you're like, okay, that never happened. I saw one the other week, this is not a trend, but I went on TikTok and someone was talking about a tsunami that had happened, and I was like, Oh my god, a tsunami had happened, there were pictures of it, it was like trending tsunami in whatever place, and I was like, Oh my god, god, I'd not seen the news on this. And I went onto my reputable news source and there were notes about it. And I was like, this is fake news. That's scary. It's absolute fake news, absolute fake news, and that scares me a little bit. But what is interesting about TikTok is transaction volume rose 80% on the year in 2025. So it has had a massive step up in people using TikTok shop, and it's incredible the number of people on there. And I think one, it can be really hard to actually distinguish what's what is accurate and what isn't, but it is an absolute hotbed for people's thoughts and opinions.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

And in the US, it's forecast to outperform Target, Costco, and Best Thai in US e commerce sales. Weighty.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yeah, and I had a discussion with with someone about this on my holiday actually. And they were so surprised that even you could even sell on TikTok, right? Because of the the stigma around trust and it just being a lot of people just. Think it is just a lot of Chinese factories selling directly, and that's it. And it's like, no, this is happening. This is probably another one of your main competitors to anybody, like vintage is it's really happening, and pe consumers are so trusting with the people they're following, the people that they can see themselves aspiring to be. It is the new form of retail.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Yeah, and I think being able to get trends really quickly, like the speed in which they're done. Also, people seeing a trend on TikTok because you see it on repetition. What is it? You've got to see something eight times before it comes a habit kind of thing. But it's that almost like seeing something over and over again. It's giving it that kind of almost that God word. It's almost giving it that stamp of approval of this is something good, you want to buy it because you see it so many times. It's like making something seem super commercial.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

And then everyone else is seeing it as well. You just inherently think, oh, everyone's seeing this.

unknown 23:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

So you trust it because you think everyone's seeing it, and then you see it enough times to be like, oh my gosh, I've seen that green and white striped jumper so many times. I really like that. I've seen it so many times, it's gone into my mind I have to have that. So I think it's a really interesting one to watch trend resolve trend velocity, but also price anchoring. I think exactly as you say, it's one of your biggest competitors, it's a tricky one because I think part of the reason there is this trust is is a lower barrier to entry. So things aren't on there that expensive, and then once you get used to it, then people feel more comfortable with actually buying on it. I think QVC have actually just started a collab or just started selling on TikTok.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

And so it's like the original social selling is now on TikTok, and it's amazing to see that kind of evolution. Um I also think what you said about very similar to vintage being one of your main competitors. And I was thinking about this the other day about how not just is it your competitor because the viral dress is selling on there for so however much more, or you've got we know that everything's secular and fashion is secular, so you've got all those things coming back around. For example, one thing I really wish I had kept was my big buckle Shakira style belt. Do you know the one has the big, it almost looks like armor plating that you would wear up here, and it had the you wear it low slung around your denim skirt. Yeah. So it was like big leather bits that were almost like punch and then a big metal steel thing, so it almost looked like you were wearing a wrestling belt. And I remember thinking that is one trend that will never ever come back. Twenty odd years later. Here we are. Wow. But there's gonna be so many. People are loving it, they seem to be liking it. I don't know. I don't know. I loved it at one point in my life, but it's not just a new trend that's been revived and you're now selling it again. There's it's so much more accessible for people to buy older versions of those products on vintage. But not only that, but it's a really good sort of det word a determinator. It's a really good It's a really good scale. Or no, it's a really good. It's a it's it's so funny. It's a really good way of it's a really good trend thermometer. A trend thermometer. Again, new word, coining it today. It's a really good trend thermometer because you can really see based on the number of likes what people are liking, and that is in real time. And I was thinking about it the other day because you can like things on the store websites that you're on, and then you can be told this is how it's the number one bestseller, or this sold 20 this week, but it's not it's not shown quite as graphically or as quite as honestly as when you see the little heart button and you can see how many people have favoured, and it's a really good barometer. I'm sticking with thermometer, but I think it's a really good trend thermometer to be like, oh, okay, interesting. People are really loving that ditzy pattern. Oh, there's a large floral print. Oh, they're not loving that. Oh, but they're loving the large floral print on that shape. Rolling through vintage and just seeing how many people like different styles of product is a really good gauge on data. What are people wanting to shop right now? What should my range be looking like?

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Exactly. No, I think that's a really is uh such a new way of looking at what's going on in the market, isn't it? But it is you're right, happening in real time. And yeah, it's so different to what it's so different to what happened in our day. It's fucking my day. It is so interesting though, isn't it, to have that set of data at your fingertips from a buyer's point of view. Yeah, but it's incredibly overwhelming and far too much. But if you can get through that noise, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

I think that you can see the number of likes and able to see, and it's because it's so customer-facing, you can see the demand for those trends and products.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

And we know that by 2028, we know how popular platforms and resale proper platforms like vintage, and they're now saying that by 2028, resale and sustainable product lines are expected to account for 20% of apparel sales. That's a huge proportion. And especially when everybody's also trying to, I say everybody, also, when we know quite a lot of people are trying to reduce the amount that they're buying, number of people I've spoken to doing the rule of five. You've got people buying less. And when people are buying, a larger proportion of them are buying sustainable or resale products.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Yeah, yeah. No, it is a staggering number, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 27:40

But when we think about food and drink, where do we go for like benchmarking ourselves against? I don't know, we're thinking about like pricing or we're looking at like new product ideas. Like, where is the I guess if you're thinking price, you've got to look at Lidl and Audi, as we talked about a few weeks ago. Frustratingly, they're not actually legally classed as a large grocery.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

I don't have that that's that still baffles me. So are you talking about from a trend point of view?

SPEAKER_00 28:07

Yeah, when you're thinking about trends, where you go and look at trends, when you're looking at like product trends, styling trends, taste trends, do we call them taste trends? I mean pricing, how do you where are you pitching it, like your range, how's that looking? What you're going to white label on, what are you buying branded?

SPEAKER_01 28:24

I think you can still learn so much from the international supermarkets. Again, I'm just fresh back from history. I was in an Italian supermarket and they're just incredible, incredibly different to what happens in the UK. Obviously, you can't follow exactly what's going on in an international supermarket because it's very catered to the Mediterranean diet, for example, and very catered to the way that they live their lives. But just some of the products in there that you can be inspired by from products that we've got is incredible. It's really incredible. And I'm known for this in my family to be the per the one that spends like five hours in an international supermarket, and they're like, What the hell are you doing? And it's like it's just so inspiring. Do you buy any of it or do you just Google? No, I can't tell you. I'm not sure this is really right for them for the pod, but as soon as we got to Italy, we went, we drove straight to an Italian supermarket and just went mad and bought like a great big slab of Gorgonzola, breadsticks, chur, really beautiful fresh tomatoes, um, pistachios. Those they're having a time of it still, aren't they? They are, they are definitely. And just like any kind of fresh, regional, amazingly stunning ingredient we could get our hands on. We bought that and it was a car stack.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Anything goes.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Yeah, exactly. But it's just like it's yeah, they there's those supermarkets, I think, are incredibly inspiring to just go get lost in from product development point of view and look at the packaging, look at what their what their expertise are regionally, and yeah, from that's where I'd start, I think, from that point of view.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

I think one of the lovely things about food and drink is how much the packaging has come on these days, like how much more exciting a lot of the packaging is. It used to be a lot more basic, I feel, but now I feel like you know, just walking down, say the drink, or I don't know what was it recently, Citunafish has had uh so it was just by John West, right? And now there's all these really fun brands that have got really eye-catching packaging. I think we were talking about this last week about the retro packaging that you get on quite a lot of the pastas or the tin cans, but really eye-catching and memorable. You know it from its branding, but the branding's becoming a lot bolder and a lot brighter. And I think we've also seen quite a lot sort of more retro packaging.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

And there's that in that like real of the kind of ready meal brand, right? So like Charlie Bingham's and I always call them crusty musty, but they're not crusty musty, are they? They're crusty. Yeah, because I call them crusty must be crusty musty, crusty mullinica. And how that convenience module has become a bit more lifestyle. It's really interesting, isn't it? Because it's not just about having your waitress finest, what's it called? Number one. They're called number one, don't they? Yeah. Lasagna now. It's about having that brand that has that beautiful picture on the front, and it's been put in a tray that has the silver foil, and it's all the theatre around it.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Totally. It's definitely a theatre. Do you know what I've the biggest thing I've noticed? You're talking about ready meals there being like a really big kind of like movement. For me, it's been this real switch from protein to and fibre now being the thing that we all need in our diets, about whole foods being like really rich nutrients and flavour rather than healthy, meaning low fat or just protein, just chicken. Actually, we're not having enough fibre in our diets, and there's been a huge switch to actually fibre-rich products.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's funny, isn't it? Like how you just jump on these different it will be back to protein soon.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Yeah, quite possibly. It's quite fun to experiment with different flavours as well, isn't it? And like having these kind of healthy foods. Like what one of the other ones, like kimchi. And that I think that has grown. Is it nearly scent?

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Yeah, I think it's a staple in our in this house, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Is it? See, it's not to my taste. I do love Korean flavour, but I have to say kimchi is not my thing. But I do love the kind of Korean, Malaysian, all of those kind of foods. Oh, delish.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Oh my god, this is making me hungry. Super hungry.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Should we leave it at that then? I feel like we've covered all sorts of different trends, where to go, what to do, what to watch, how to spot trends. And we do so much more of this kind of chat and reviewing and brainstorming, not only on our podcast with many of our guests, but also within our buyers club membership. Yeah. So be sure to check out.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

I was gonna say it's probably one of our favourite sections of the club, isn't it? The the trend analysis, the trend spotting, going off down a rabbit hole. I know I definitely do that and spiral into the research. And as former buyers, that has been like one of the massive parts of our job that we've with that we've loved and what we've been thorough, thoroughly interested in for the brands that we've worked for. So yeah, it's a huge part of our club, and it's not, in our opinion at the moment, focused enough on an industry.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Yeah, and I think it's one of those favourite tasks as a buyer that you never quite get around to, and you just want someone to pull out some of the top tips, and you almost just want the information at your fingertips when it's like, okay, you've finally got some, we're releasing some budget, you can go on an inspiration trip. Where do you want to go? And I need your proposal in two days, and you're like, I don't know, where are we gonna go? Where do I start? You just want someone to be like, okay, this is the place to go, go here, these are the shops to see. So if you need any help or any inspiration, then yeah, drop us a note. Let's wrap it up for the week then.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Have a great week, everybody.

unknown 34:01

Bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

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 34:31

We all need a bit of retail therapy, and this is the perfect time for you to offload about that super cringe-worthy 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 34:53

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 for 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.