Want to start, scale and succeed in your product business? Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit. In this weekly business podcast, Nicole is here to empower you to "start, scale and succeed" by providing you with inspiration, motivation and insight from entrepreneurs and experts to help you in the retail industry.This podcast includes tips, tactics and conversations that you can learn from and implement into your own business, from start up entrepreneurs that have just launched to multi million pound businesses. With tips from experts and how to’s to help your business grow to enable you to live the life you crave. From side hustle to stock market and everything in between.Start listening and subscribe now
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Your Black Friday 2026 game plan: what's changed, and what to do now
Whether you've got your Black Friday plan nailed or haven't started yet, this solo episode is for you. I've spent years in buying offices at Primark, M&S and George at Asda, and I've seen my fair share of Black Fridays. In this episode I go through what's different in 2026, how to plan offers that protect your profit, and what to do once the weekend's over.
🎁 Free download: Black Friday Offer & Profit Planner. Put in your cost price, retail price, normal weekly units and expected uplift, and it shows you your profit at 10%, 15% and 20% off. DM the word FRIDAY to @thebuyerandretailcoach on Instagram.
In this episode I cover:
What’s changed in 2026:
How customers are shopping now:
Planning offers that make you money:
Black Friday week and after:
Connect with Nicole
Instagram: @thebuyerandretailcoach
Website: thebuyerandretailcoach.com
Read the blog: Black Friday 2026: What's Changed and What to Do Now
LinkedIn: Nicole Higgins
Sign up to the newsletter and get support straight to your inbox https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/
This podcast is sponsored by Neon Digital Clicks @neondigitalclicks Digital Clicks the agency helping women & kids lifestyle brands achieve explosive growth and drive real revenue with high-performing digital marketing head to www.RunwayToResults.com to check out their 60 day programme
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
22 Oct 2026
Ep 200 The Q4 email plan every product brand needs with Katie Farrell
Katie shares her Rocks, Pebbles and Sand planning framework and the email frequency to build up to before Black Friday. She also covers the benchmarks worth tracking, four types of email that sell at full margin without a discount code, and a simple Instagram giveaway that moves your followers onto your email list. If you sell products online and want this Christmas to be your best yet, watch this before you plan another email. In this episode: How often to email in the run-up to Black Friday: add one extra send a week, building to two or three emails a week at least by Black Friday weekend. Why simple wins: postcard-style emails with one idea and one button, and plain-text follow-ups from the founder to cut through the noise. The numbers to watch: a 40–60% open rate, a click rate of 1.5–2%+, and when your unsubscribe rate says it’s time to stop and rethink (over 0.5% means investigate, over 1% means stop). Four types of email that sell beyond the discount: Curriculum (how-tos, gift guides, FAQs), Coaching (“this or that”, gifts by budget), Community (reviews, UGC, founder letters) and Conversion without a code (low stock, back in stock, last order dates). How to grow your list fast before Black Friday: run an Instagram giveaway with a comment keyword using Klaviyo’s free Auto Replies or ManyChat. Store credit is the best prize. Why Black Friday should start earlier: run early access lists and one- to two-week sales, and never change your offer once it’s live. Q4 tweaks for abandoned cart and browse abandonment flows: shorter time delays, sale banners and an easy way to contact you. https://www.katiefarrell-econsultant.com/klaviyo-flow-starter-pack https://www.instagram.com/itskatiefarrell/ https://www.katiefarrell-econsultant.com/ 💡Listen to the start scale succeed podcast here for more tips to help you start and scale your product business https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/start-scale-succeed/id1577771045 🔥 DON'T FORGET to follow me on instagram from lots more tips https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/ ❤️ Enjoyed this video? Subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell to never miss a new video — and let us know what how-tos you’d like to see next in the comments! Sign up to the newsletter and get support straight to your inbox https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/
This podcast is sponsored by Neon Digital Clicks @neondigitalclicks (https://www.instagram.com/neondigitalclicks/) Digital Clicks the agency helping women & kids lifestyle brands achieve explosive growth and drive real revenue with high-performing digital marketing head to www.RunwayToResults.com to check out their 60 day programme
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
15 Oct 2026
Ep 199 A New Kind of Paradise: Jules Von Hepp on Exit, Identity and What Comes Next
From Spray Tanner to Global Beauty Brand: Jules Von Hepp on Building Isle of Paradise, Showing Up and Knowing When to Leave Jules Von Hep spent 10 years as a celebrity spray tanner. His clients included Strictly Come Dancing, the red carpet and Vogue. Then he spotted a gap no one was filling. The result was Isle of Paradise, a colour-correcting self-tan brand that went into Superdrug and Boots and then out to Sephora in the US and Australia. In this episode, Jules tells Nicole how a founder with no product-development background built a global brand by leaning on his expertise and partnering with people who knew what he didn’t. He explains why he believes every product founder should be a front-facing founder. He also talks openly about deciding to leave the brand he created and what comes next, including his new book, The Confidence Ritual. In this episode: How 10 years in the treatment room became the brand story, and the formulation knowledge, behind Isle of Paradise Why partnering with Future Beauty Labs let him stay creative and play to his strengths Why your customer wants to see you, and why social media is your shop front Protecting your face and your identity when you know an exit is coming How to tell when it’s time to leave your own brand, Advice for starting out: stop chasing the perfect sample. 85–90% is ready. Advice for scaling: widen who your customer is, test limited editions and see what sells
This episode is brought to you by Neon Digital Clicks. Their 60-day Runway to Results programme manages your Meta and Google ads with no long-term contract. Find out more at runwaytoresults.com
Guest Jules Von Hepp https://www.instagram.com/julesvonhep/
The confidence ritual https://www.amazon.co.uk/Confidence-Ritual-Give-yourself-inside/dp/0349443890
https://www.julesvonhep.com/ https://soularsol.com/
https://www.instagram.com/soularsol_
💡Listen to the start scale succeed podcast here for more tips to help you start and scale your product business https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/start-scale-succeed/id1577771045 🔥 DON'T FORGET to follow me on instagram from lots more tips https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/ ❤️ Enjoyed this video? Subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell to never miss a new video — and let us know what how-tos you’d like to see next in the comments! Sign up to the newsletter and get support straight to your inbox https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Who has been a guest on Start Scale Succeed
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Louisa Booth
Dean Johnston
Heather Chan
Dr Felice Chan
Lauren Orlicky
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
5,138
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
4.9 / 5
15 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 85 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
88
Social presence
94
YouTube
74
Engagement
85
Contact Start Scale Succeed
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
