S8 E7: Introducing... The Buyers Club

Hello and welcome to Buying and Beyond, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes

of Retail Buying. We're Kate and Lens and we are talking all things retail buying

and beyond with real people in retail. 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.

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. Built from feedback from over 400 buyers, it's

a dedicated community designed to help you grow, connect and thrive in your career.

We've got curated trend edits, retail insights, learning and sport tools and a few exclusive

perks too.

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

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.jointhebuyersclub.co.uk.

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

This week on the podcast, it's us. We are making 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. Let's get into it. I mean, it is all consuming for us

right now, isn't it?

Yes, it is and it has been something that's been a long time in the making, isn't it?

I think that's what's so like, crazy exciting that we've got this over the lot, 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 realised 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 thought 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, yeah, definitely but it's been like a really

nice introduction in, isn't it? Because we have worked in these businesses so 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,

isn't it? And I don't know, I think I, I don't know but 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 learned so much over the last like 18 months

really about ourselves and about other things out there. 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. And I think as far as we

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 it's been a lot. 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. We both worked for 15 plus years working our way all the way

up from BA to head of buying and really, really enjoyed it. Yes, there were definitely some tough times,

but we loved it. But we did notice, you know, 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 definitely like energy is a big thing for us, right?

You know, keeping that energy going and energy feeds energy. So, you know, you go in feeling like,

okay, today's going to 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 perflated. And I think we 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 to think someone else would like to hear this. Yeah, yeah. No, 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 was like a really amazing, amazing

induction into buying where we were and where we'd land 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 I asked you and I

probably saved 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, that's not in the organisation, like I 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 also just none of our other friends

who aren't in this industry, understood it, like 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 in 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 enjoy so much about our friendship to each other and let you say, yeah,

I just remember those like endless ventures, often when we were driving, weren't we because we were

sort of late in our last career as we were having to commute by a driving and just helping each other

through some of the madness. Yeah 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 or not even reality checks sometimes just like what is it the not-devil worst

product although that's very very but you know almost like that kind of 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

one of my bias is Paulic devil's avocado 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 and 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 it was amazing but as you kind of go up you start

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 and 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 yeah yeah it's quite a wait to carry yeah and just on that

note as well okay you know it's it wasn't I think a lot of our industry is so guarded and we've

often talked about you know how this the CEO round table dinners that they all Katie and they're not

sharing they're not sharing confidential information 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 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 this 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 I'm 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 word for the trees

what do you do or how do you manage down or how do you just deal with a difficult colleague

or someone that you're particularly close to or you don't agree with something some of these

down or you really want to champion someone but you don't want to let overstep the mark like there's

so many situations like that exactly like buying is notoriously gatekeeping 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 also can we 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 exactly what it was at one point not comparable right

so it's not at information necessarily and it just shows goes to show that so many of the

principles 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 going to have their slight

quirks which is why we have always said firms like notice respect 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 and very different product categories but

the principles of buying remain the same yeah yeah exactly exactly and I think we've been so lucky to buy

such a wide range of categories between us like it is 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 we're working and why 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 own little sort of forum support level but 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 yeah definitely I know 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 does your

brand mean but 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 work 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 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 you know amalgamating into one person buying 50 million categories

they just don't have the time to go and actually think outside the books look for new

suppliers and I'm generalising 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 but 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 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 there to listen to what events are there to go to what what

documentaries are there to watch you know we 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 yeah and time to get out I think that's one of the biggest

one yeah right please you say like I've seen it throughout I remember being like and this

this years ago we know 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 buy is

saying it before me I remember seeing it as a buyer to my team I remember seeing it you know

as I head off to all my teams like get out of the office yeah 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 it's nothing better than looking at what other people 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

I completely missed it and day came and went but we've done it we've gone out 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 going to take different things from it and that's important as well it's not like

oh yeah but if they're looking at and they're looking at and they're looking at will 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 it is like just don't copy someone's already done it's boring

it's old yeah then 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 going to do to make yourself look different next year

yeah exactly exactly so as you talked about you know retail is changing times are changing right

so everybody is like pretty much time strapped your stocks you'd ask 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 there's something out there

which is absolute awful catastrophic happens but it massively impacts your day to day yeah and I'm

not taking any light off what's happened in the situations that are going on which are just

absolutely terrifying but it does impact your day to day so as you 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 looking for that support as you kind of mentioned

earlier lens like it's 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 buyers 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 we're happy to put forward for that change you know what what is it going to be

but we need those voices with us to help make the change be the change yeah down like I'm on a

protest rally now which I'm not quite getting my placards out yet but I think the president

I'm 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 sport but I think that's where it kind of comes from

learning and sport and the sport being the 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 it said AI can't ignore it you know whether it's been built with mail 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

yeah yeah exactly and we want we want to give that kind of information on on the site don't we

you know that it's going to be incredibly supportive to every level of role really and you know

our our top tips anything any information and knowledge that we've found that we can pass on to

some bite size way it's it's going to be an empowering section of tools tips blocks and we've got

own a little section on there where you can have a one-to-one with us as well can't you so and if

you want to have it a little catch up and interesting one that one isn't it 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 here's a turn 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 too 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 have 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 a retail-based kind of questions but also about how you might speak with them 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 it's certain to tell a certain story and it was a couple of people

that we 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 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 you

problem is let's talk it through and it's just a quick 30 minute one to one 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 club 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

as in 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 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 and whatever time you have

you know 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 missed adverts on LinkedIn or you miss finding out information that 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

realize existed and again it's to encourage you to go to not just the ones about your category

but you're 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 and processes and ideas around that subject that is just really exciting and

interesting to to learn about so yeah 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 happen to be on LinkedIn yesterday

and suddenly I got a oh fashion snoops are doing a spring summer 28 colors and I was like oh

interesting I love that kind of stuff yeah I'll play that if I hadn't 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 mental do things like that it's like statistics and

telling you all it's fashion exhibitions which often I find out two weeks before they're about

to end so Shaparelli is just opened at the V&A and it started uh end of starting end of March

and it's one of those ones but I probably in the summer be like oh Shaparelli I really like oh

oh god oh it finishes I can't go to 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 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 exactly and you know like even sort of really niche trade shows like we've

all heard of the really big ones like spring fair talk draw you know or whatever's really specific

to your category you've got them in your diary you've got them in your calendar you go over a year

you know what you're going to get but some other really tiny little nichey ones are incredible to

go and find the 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 not just go to find new brands but go to

go to the talks go 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 liar in my role like I have no time between having to go back to like 100 emails

a day after a show and appointment planning a trip you know pulling together my strategy pack

and the sign off pack ready actually laying out a sign off you know going to a hundred million

meetings I'm 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 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 going to 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

and 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 going to be the day that this goes out

yes and then we're going to be doing London in April and then we're going to Manchester which we

are so excited about if you support any of our retail reflections back in the summer well 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 and we 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

but 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 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 going to 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 going to be doing our retail therapy Tuesdays

because after you've done your Monday and you choose day 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 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 bestseller woohoo 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 yeah you don't have to talk shop at all yeah just come

and and just like bring your passion like so many of us just we love product like let's talk

about the best product that we've seen out there at the moment you know funny things funny fines

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 podcasts we've met so many people

and we've heard from so many listeners and you know we all we all really enjoy the job you know

and we 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 and you know we can't

we can't sort of skim over the podcast because the podcast is kind of what Scott us to this point

is that 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 love

it because they love product and when they first discovered buying they was 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 week a moment and all just like 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 yeah yeah exactly so we've got

a whole amazing section on the membership all dedicated to the podcast and some extra kinds of

scenes content with some of the guests that we'll have on that month you get a sneak peek as to who's

coming who's going to be on the podcast that month and lots of deep dive as well into some of the top

x just say that again a deep dive in some of the topics yep exactly and also you know just a preview on

all the incredible guests that we've had on you know which episode you can go back to listen to

who's been on there might be a certain thing that your topic that's really on your mind you know

that we've we've talked about sustainability we had the heterosexuality of primalcon the

podcast give few weeks ago probably a few months ago now there's you know we had a technologist

done we've had designers on we've had so many different people on that touch different parts

the industry different different product categories so we've had a plant buyer we've had a wine buyer

we've had a buyer films and windows we've got coming up like FMCG buyers like everybody 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

like you may I was just going to say and I was offering a lot you know 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 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

and I always feel like I leave the podcast still with so many questions because with time limited

you can't I could talk for hours and they always still have so many things that I want to ask them

and I see it as a great opportunity as well to get them back and ask them some more things

yeah yeah exactly exactly 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 as 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 all pet foods on

the app because we all know people only have a certain amount of wallet so where is that going to

go so if there is a particular trend in one area more than likely you're going to see a decline in

another area that we're not saying that definitely you're going to be buying pet food therefore

you're not going to buy food for yourself I'm only in baked beans because my pet dog is having

gourmet beef every day but there definitely is you know the trends that will happen that will

therefore directly or indirectly impact and while we're on what we're sending to your inbox we

just give you a monthly inbox we don't want to be filling you up my inbox is way

way busy and I can't see the word for the tree sometime 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 lots of information lots of tools and

we cannot forget the last thing which is the week 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 GC discounts on products that we love and

we think could be really topical for you and we want to give you some services that will help you

with wellbeing help you to relax help you to switch off from the job because it can become really

all-consuming content in a in a in an exit 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 so yeah so if you want to check it out it's www.jointhebuyersclub.co.uk

and I think we're giving you a really good insight into what is there at the moment the little

taster of what we're launching with we've got big ideas and we think there's so much more

to offer and we think that the industry deserves so much more and so there is a lot still to come

so what is 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 yeah so there will be lots more to come

and we're really excited for you all to join us on our journey I honestly I wonder sometimes

if you counted up the number of times that we say journey in our pockets because everything is a

journey it's not about the destination it's about the journey how you get there and if you go

on a buying trip the journey is the biggest part of the trip yeah you spend most of the time

traveling then 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 and although then you have to slow it down to 1.5 to like no

I miss that miss that bit completely they were way too excited and then I had it playing on

double speed and I miss completely what they 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

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

and there's a few FAQs on there 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 yeah we of course could talk or I

definitely could talk for hours and hours now as so I think it's best to to stop us now

Lindsay give me a little time check yeah it's time to sign off so we will be back next week

with a really exciting entrepreneur 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's just who

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 where we speak with our next guest thanks for

listening guys and we really hope to see you in our club and one of our events soon bye

you

okay 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

you