What AI Is Actually Doing to the Fashion Buyer's Role (And How to Stay Ahead of It)

In this episode of the Thrive in Fashion Buying podcast, Elisabeth explains why buyers and designers can often disagree when they build a range, and what a buyer can do about it. She starts with how each role is measured and shows why the commercial brief has to reach the design team before the creative work begins. She also covers how to say no to a design without losing the idea or the designer's goodwill, with four options to try first and an example costed at a retail price well above the category's best sellers.

Summary AI tools are available that can now pull your sales data, build your weekly trade pack and even tell you which lines need attention. But someone still has to decide whether the information is right. In this episode, Elisabeth shares her feedback on a recent AI merchandising webinar and an interview she gave to a fashion buying student. She looks at where the real value is for buying and merchandising teams, and highlights the risk that comes when the answer that looks right, and the overwhelm that comes with too much data. Points covered • What AI trade packs, agents and sales tools can do • Why AI cannot build your range for you • Why trend platforms are not crystal balls • How a report can be accurate and still misleading Five checks to make before you act on any report 1. Check the definition: gross or net, with or without tax, before or after returns. 2. Ask what the report doesn't include: deliveries, supplier delays, fit, store layout, promotions, weather. 3. Check it against something real: the website, a store, customer reviews, the supplier. 4. Weigh the risk if the recommendation is wrong. 5. Make sure you can explain the decision in your own words.

In this episode of the Thrive in Fashion Buying podcast, Elisabeth explains how to think more like a merchandiser, so you can read what is behind a result before you decide where your budget goes. She covers what to look at when a category is ahead of plan, how to judge whether a selling style deserves more investment, why sales growth can hide an unhealthy business, and why profit has to be built into the buy and not recovered at the end of the season. If you are in the first few years of your buying career, or you own a category and want your trade meetings to go better, this episode gives you a clear way to connect product, numbers and action.

Once you have a few years of buying behind you, the hardest part of the job is rarely the product or the numbers. It is getting your range decisions through the business when your merchandiser, supply chain, allocation team and senior managers all have a different view of what the range should be. In this episode, Elisabeth shares how experienced fashion buyers handle push-back, difficult people and tough conversations across the product development process, from concept to the shop floor. In this episode: • Why most "difficult" colleagues are working to a different number, and how to turn an intake cut into a conversation about phasing • The three types of people who are hardest to work with in a buying office, and a different approach for each • How to stay calm and commercial when your range is criticised in front of senior managers • How to build influence with supply chain, allocation, VM and technical teams when you have no direct authority over them

When a market goes soft, the instinct is to assume demand has disappeared. It usually hasn't. Your customer is still there, but she's taking longer to decide, buying one item where she used to buy two, and waiting for a reason to commit. In this episode, Elisabeth Mac Hale breaks down what actually needs your attention when trade slows down: full price sell-through, forward cover, intake phasing, and the commitments sitting behind your OTB. She walks through why a decision that looks safe for one buyer, like pulling a delivery forward, can become a real cost once you multiply it across a team, and what separates buyers who hold their credibility in a difficult season from those who don't. Key Takeaway In a soft market, the question changes from "will this sell" to "when will it sell, and at what margin". The buyers who navigate this well can account for every unit of their commitments, not just their product choices. Links & Resources Online Buying Course: Thrive in Fashion Buying Connect with Elisabeth: Instagram: @designdirectivedubai LinkedIn: Elisabeth Mac Hale Website: The Design Directive