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00:00For decades, the big-name supermarkets have dominated the high street.
00:06A weekly shop for us is like way more than it was last year.
00:10But now the game has changed.
00:13Wallets are shrinking.
00:15Do you like a bargain? Is that a question that anybody needs to seriously answer?
00:20And prices are soaring.
00:22It's scary when I'm walking up to the tills.
00:25Enter the discount disruptors.
00:28We take on the supermarkets by removing the friction.
00:32It's Christmas!
00:34Cost-a-living crisis, it's affecting everybody and we try and make it a little less painful.
00:40It's all about being cheaper than everyone else.
00:44They're making your shopping seductive.
00:47We'll take it to marketing and they will start to sexify it.
00:50Catching your eye-line-by-line.
00:52This is what's known as a shopper-stopper.
00:54And tantalising your taste buds with the latest trend-jacking.
00:57We sold 30,000 last week. Finger on the buzzer.
01:01Shall we be told?
01:03Eh?
01:05I order from here.
01:07From budget brilliance.
01:09See these milkshakes for the kids there, a bargain.
01:11To next big things.
01:13This one is an all-time cracker.
01:15They're taking us beyond the shelves.
01:17Unlike the supermarkets, we're no fancy shelving, we're no big signs.
01:21There's no frills of us.
01:22And behind the scenes.
01:23This is where it all happens.
01:25It's a box of six bars for a panic.
01:29Yeah, I like it.
01:30To reveal the secrets of super cheap shopping.
01:33The bigger the sign, the cheaper the price, the more it's going to sell.
01:39You can beat the supermarkets.
01:46Coming up, the daddy of discount.
01:49This is one of our star items, you old umbrellas.
01:52And former boss of Pound World is back with a new bargain business.
01:57It's everyday stuff.
01:58We just make sure we focus on this all the time.
02:01So I love you and me.
02:03Oh, bless you.
02:04A one-woman super force shares her secrets for taking on the supermarkets.
02:09I start at half past six in the morning.
02:12I answer people's messages and book orders in the old-fashioned way.
02:18And the discount retailer that's shaking things up by selling premium products for a penny.
02:24We call it science. Science of surplus.
02:33Across the country, we're all cutting back and tightening our belts.
02:37And in Yorkshire, the renowned home of the thrifty,
02:40there's a rapidly expanding discount business
02:43that's tackling the big five supermarkets head on.
02:47There's always a market for value for money.
02:49And it's all about being cheaper than everyone else.
02:52Meet Chris Edwards, a.k.a. the daddy of discount.
02:56Chris has been in the discount game for over 50 years.
02:59And in 2003, he started Pound World
03:02that was sold in 2015 for 150 million.
03:06How much?
03:07When we did sell Pound World, we actually had 320 shops.
03:13The new owners didn't have Chris's pound game pizzazz,
03:17and Pound World went into administration three years later.
03:21This is Chris in 2018, next to one of his shuttered shops.
03:26I'm sad. Deep down, I'm sad. What happened to our business?
03:29Pound World may have bitten the dust,
03:31but there was already something brewing in Chris's head.
03:34We got together and said, let's go. Start all over again.
03:37I feel I'm bonkers, but it's just in me blood.
03:40It's something I just want to do, and I also feel we can do it.
03:43And he has done it, because that germ of an idea
03:46is now giving the supermarkets a proper run for their money.
03:51The shop in our shops, they know that they're going to get value for money.
03:55The business was originally called One Below.
03:58The maximum price was always going to be a pound,
04:01but then we realised we couldn't hold the prices at a pound,
04:04so we changed the name from One Below to One Beyond,
04:07because everything with inflation and everything,
04:09the pound game, as we call it, had more or less finished.
04:13One Beyond is currently the fastest-growing value retailer in the UK.
04:21Cheers.
04:23With nearly 120 stores and lots of bargain-bagging customers.
04:28Nowadays you have to buy things which are more affordable.
04:31I think you can trust that it's going to be cheaper than a main supermarket.
04:35It's got the everyday stuff that you always need that you never think of.
04:40People shop here for a lot of different reasons,
04:42but saving a few quid is number one on most people's lists.
04:48Sometimes in a supermarket you might get a deal,
04:49but generally things here are sort of cheaper overall.
04:52What I find frustrating in supermarkets is that the cheap stuff
04:55is always on sale as a special,
04:57whereas here everything is always cheap all of the time.
05:01The store sells everything from post-it notes
05:04to pet products for fashion-conscious canines.
05:07Look at that! Chewy bouton!
05:10In here you can get a USB charging cable for £1.50.
05:17That's a fraction of the price of the cheapest supermarket.
05:20Face wipes two for a quid, a 45% saving on the supers.
05:25And reading glasses, so you can see bargains better, for just £1.50.
05:30That's over 60% less than the cheapest of the big five.
05:33Nice!
05:36Today, Chris is popping in to inspect one of the five Leeds branches
05:42with one of his senior team, Damon.
05:44This is a typical One Beyond store.
05:47This has always been one of our star items, the old umbrellas.
05:52I first started selling these on Wakefield Market in the 70s.
05:56It was a good seller then as they are now.
05:58And when it's raining outside, we're attending all the stores
06:01in order to wheel the stand out so people again can see through the window.
06:05I say, it's getting wet, let's have an umbrella.
06:08A major differentiator with the big supers is the emphasis
06:11on the first aisle the shop has walked down,
06:14which is where in every store you'll find the first aisle regular sellers.
06:19Everything's repetitive, cos it's regular, it's everyday stuff.
06:23It's cheaper than most places,
06:25so we just make sure we focus on this all the time.
06:28If you get them to get one or two items in a basket,
06:31they'll more likely shop the old shop.
06:34If they get past this aisle and they haven't got nothing in the basket,
06:37then we haven't done our job very well.
06:39So all the best sellers, the regular sellers, are all in the first aisle.
06:44One thing this shop does much louder and prouder than most supermarkets
06:48is saturate the store with some serious signage,
06:51shouting out the low, sorry, amazing prices.
06:56Retailing is make the customer aware of what you've got
07:00and the bigger the sign, the cheaper the price,
07:02the more it's going to sell.
07:04There are star buys here and price drops there.
07:07And shelf talkers, small signs placed below products,
07:10help with the sell as well.
07:12This is a shelf talker, amazing value.
07:16This price is very clearly marked.
07:18And it's just to attract and we just keep trying to get the sales going in any shape or form.
07:26In all the shops we have one section that's seasonal.
07:30The seasonal stuff, that's what people come in for.
07:34And we give them special offers, trendy items.
07:37It's all rammed into one shop and there's so much thought process that's got to go into it.
07:41We're working on every shelf every week.
07:44When it comes to the science of the shop floor layout,
07:47you might say Chris is the Albert Einstein of retail.
07:51And what's retail, Chris?
07:53Retail is detail.
07:54Whilst Chris is busy enticing shoppers into his 100 plus high street stores,
08:02over in Greater Manchester,
08:04another company taking on the supermarkets to save the shopper money
08:08is Discount Dragon, where customers buy online
08:11and have their goods delivered straight to their door.
08:15Perfect job. Rip bag.
08:17I know where that's going.
08:19Butts Mill in Wigan was once a bustling Lancastrian cotton mill.
08:24It's still bustling today.
08:26We had a promotion where we sold 60,000 ready meals in 24 hours.
08:32But the rows of weaving machines have been replaced with rows and rows of pallets,
08:37all stacked high with bargain buys.
08:40Chicken tikka masala coming out of our ears.
08:42This is Discount Dragon's home in the warehouse, or the dragon's lair,
08:48as some people call it.
08:50We get deliveries every single day.
08:52It could be anything from...
08:54Dishwasher.
08:55Tablets.
08:56To chocolate bars.
08:57To chewing gum.
08:59The company employs around 100 people.
09:02From product pickers...
09:04Ooh, we have big orders!
09:07When we have big orders, you have to...
09:09Mmm!
09:10Mmm!
09:11Pushing!
09:13To pallet pushers...
09:15Probably the most amount of pallets I've had in a day.
09:17Well over 120.
09:19You're just on your feet all day.
09:21And the odd pampered pooch.
09:23Oh, Teddy.
09:24You're getting all the attention.
09:26Imagine if he gets a job off the back of this.
09:30With the lift in constant use, the stairs keep everyone fit.
09:36It's good to get your steps in.
09:37Do you know what? I do Stairmaster at the gym sometimes.
09:41I do like...
09:4250 floors.
09:43There's nowhere near as hard as this.
09:45Ugh!
09:49The business model is simple.
09:51The company buys surplus stock from manufacturers and retailers
09:55at heavily discounted prices.
09:58We're able to buy surplus stock at a great price
10:00because it could be discontinued, it could be close to best before date,
10:03it could be a seasonal product.
10:06And here, SOS isn't just an ABBA classic.
10:09So we call it a science.
10:11Science of surplus.
10:13The business is the brainchild of MD Wayne Kirsch.
10:18The cost of living crisis, well, it's affecting everybody, isn't it?
10:21And we try and make it a little less painful.
10:23Wayne's been buying and selling online for nearly 30 years.
10:29That's Nero. Black Labrador, nearly four years old.
10:33Love Labradors.
10:35Our previous dog was called Nando.
10:36What are you calling Nando?
10:39Like chicken?
10:41Funnily enough, we sell the sauce.
10:45My early life selling online was all about eBay.
10:49I was absolutely eBay obsessed.
10:52And four kids' telly characters.
10:54Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Poe, I still remember.
10:58Proved to be his first money spinner.
11:00I actually got a tip off from someone in America to say
11:04that they're selling for $100 per set of fours.
11:07I think they were about 20 quid, 22 quid in Argos.
11:11I got the $100 when I sold them, all about quids in.
11:14Cindy, if you're watching this in California,
11:17thank you very much for the advice that you gave me 27 years ago.
11:23The idea for the business came in 2022
11:26and a chocolate bunny was the catalyst.
11:28We sold candles for five, six years
11:33and then one day a supplier rang us up,
11:36do you want to try some lint bunnies?
11:38Yeah, we'll give it a go, why not?
11:40And within two hours we'd sold these lint bunnies
11:43and it went from chocolate to crisps
11:45to just about anything that you could put in your mouth to eat.
11:49Lunch test.
11:51And Discount Dragon was born.
11:53And today, the business delivers heavily discounted food and drink
11:59to more than 20,000 customers a month.
12:02I order from here, regular.
12:05With prices, they say, are up to 60% below what you'd pay at supermarket tills.
12:10So how do they do it?
12:13Chief Operating Officer Paul Simpson is overseeing the day's new arrivals.
12:20We've just had quite a big delivery of stock coming this morning.
12:25Perfect. How many more have you got to bring up?
12:27Ten more pallets?
12:29Foreign language labelling can sometimes be a reason food products can be snapped up cheaply.
12:36So this is a really good example, it's literally just come in now,
12:40which is in Hebrew, I believe, and it's actually sardines.
12:44Here's a really interesting one.
12:46It's Oreo flavoured Coke, but it's made for the Chinese market here in the UK
12:51and because it's in Chinese writing, you know, it can't be sold in the normal retailers.
12:56So we'd be selling this for £11.99 for a case and it would normally be £24.
13:01Another way the company keeps prices down is to sell products that have gone beyond their best before date,
13:08or BBD for those in the know.
13:10Best before date for these bars was last month, which is completely fine,
13:15completely safe, completely legal to sell.
13:17Best before date is literally just a guide for retailers
13:21on when the product is at its absolute optimum quality.
13:24It's not unsafe to eat, unlike use-by dates, which on things like milk, chicken, meat, etc.
13:32It's illegal to sell beyond use-by and unsafe.
13:35Whereas best before date, it's just a guide.
13:39Not everything is perfectly packaged.
13:41You know, you don't normally see juicy fruit chewing gum like that,
13:44but what we'll do is take it to marketing and they will start to sexify it.
13:47Yeah, you heard it right. He did just say sexify.
13:50What I mean by sexifying is just really make it jump out to customers when they go on the website.
13:55Chief sexifier is marketing assistant Sarah.
13:59I've got two products for you to work your magic on.
14:01There you go.
14:02We don't have any physical stores, so our shop front is online.
14:12Therefore it is paramount that our pictures look the best that they possibly can.
14:16This is a photo I've just taken in our studio.
14:19So once I've generated that image, I'll upload it into the site
14:22and then move on to sexifying the next product.
14:26We'll leave you to your sexifying Sarah.
14:31Coming up, Dawn takes on the big five with her bargain meat packs.
14:36We take on the supermarkets by removing the friction.
14:40You can choose exactly what you want to your kitchen table.
14:43It's as easy as that.
14:45In Wigan, it's all about the one penny deal.
14:47Each day we run our infra-penny promotions
14:49where you doubt to be a genius.
14:52What is it? It's products for a penny.
14:54And Chris is on the lookout for the next big thing
14:57before the supermarket's gotten on.
14:59Every so often, whether it be a toy item, whether it be a kitchen item,
15:02there's always something going on.
15:04And if you're good at your job, you're on it.
15:11Across Britain, we've all noticed that a visit to the supermarket
15:15is hitting us harder in our pockets.
15:16The supermarkets are definitely not on our side.
15:20Don't know if they're laying golden eggs these days,
15:23but they might as well be the price of them.
15:26And one product is particularly pricey.
15:29Prices of meat have just insanely increased over the last few years.
15:34Rural Wales is perhaps an unlikely location for a meaty food fight
15:40with the big five supermarkets.
15:42But one woman here is really taking it to them.
15:46Hello, don't speak in.
15:51Just a second.
15:53Right, what we have in love?
15:55Five rump, sirloin, the chicken steak, that one for £40, is it?
15:58I've got it, my lovely, yes.
16:00So I love your meat.
16:02Oh, bless you.
16:03Meet the Meatmeister.
16:05So that will be £46.99 with delivery.
16:08Yeah, that's no problem.
16:10AKA Dawn Brightwell.
16:12The super force that is Dawn's bargain meat packs.
16:14That's one order complete for the day.
16:17Many more to come.
16:19I start at half past six in the morning, that's every morning.
16:23Having a quick cup of tea and having to catch up on last night's messages
16:27because overnight it's so busy.
16:29There's even messages coming for meat orders at two, three o'clock in the morning.
16:33Bradford Last Dawn has a refreshingly low-tech approach.
16:37I answer people's messages and book orders in the old-fashioned way.
16:40So let's keep all the costs down and then the consumer at the other end
16:44can benefit from the low price.
16:46Dawn works with the wholesalers and uses a social media page
16:51to post their meat offers and prices.
16:53And the orders that come in
16:55are packed by her son Tyler at the wholesalers in Yorkshire
16:59that supplies all the meat.
17:01Deliveries come from the back door there.
17:05Beef there, etc.
17:06Lamb, gammon, chicken, pork.
17:10That's how we roll in the fridge.
17:13Anyone that knows meat, not to be a brainiac or a genius,
17:18you can tell that's a nice bit of ribeye steak,
17:21it's got a nice bit of fat in it there, and that'll eat absolutely splendid.
17:25The meat business is in Dawn's blood.
17:28Bacon butty time.
17:30From a young girl, I was brought up in the butchering world
17:31as my dad was in his own.
17:34Bear with me.
17:35Hello Dawn speaking.
17:37Yeah, no problem, just bear with me, love, and I'm booking straight away.
17:40I'm just going to the office now, one moment.
17:42That's no worries, take your time, you're alright.
17:44How are you doing, love? Are you alright?
17:46What?
17:48Another order.
17:49This is how you have to run every day.
17:52Basically, as I was born into the butchering world, so to speak,
17:56my dad was a butcher, and I was brought up with it continually,
17:59worked with my dad for absolutely years and years and years.
18:03And when social media became a thing, Dawn spotted an opportunity.
18:07I decided, just one day, what if I picture some little bits of meat on the block where we was working,
18:14me and my dad, and show the public that if we put that and that together,
18:18they could have it at this certain price.
18:20I got eight sales straight away from me doing that, and that's where it was born.
18:24And that idea for selling meat on social media has now expanded into a nationwide network for meat lovers.
18:33What address, love, are we going to?
18:35Sorry.
18:36Sorry, yeah.
18:38That Dawn runs from the farmhouse she shares with her husband, Terry, who loves his grub.
18:43As long as I get better, I'm happy.
18:45You've got to have a dummy up.
18:48And daughter-in-law, Nelly, who helps with the business.
18:51Just see if you can pull him up on that while I deal with these orders, love, please.
18:56I know you're waiting for a delivery today.
18:59We are just waiting on the fresh chickens to arrive.
19:02What time is your barbecue for, darling?
19:04I'll put leads on the first run for him.
19:06Right, we can get leads on the first run, love.
19:09Bye, love, bye-bye.
19:11Give me a check in orders, my man.
19:13Halfway? Can I have my case? Have an incident?
19:16Halfway.
19:17Halfway.
19:19The key to Dawn's low prices is something called forecast fallout.
19:24That's a new one on me. Over to you, Dawn.
19:27Forecast fallout.
19:29Supermarkets, for instance, would anticipate that in springtime they would sell a lot of land.
19:35But they would probably overbuy for their supermarkets.
19:38But that would now become a reduced cost to our wholesalers.
19:42What they haven't sold at that time.
19:44Hello, Dawn speaking.
19:46It's what, love? Which park?
19:48Just one second, darling.
19:50To us and we're getting pen and paper. Hold on.
19:53Busy woman is our Dawn.
19:55The forecast fallout is, them legs alarm, we can sell them as a cheaper product by boning out and doing us minted lamb kebabs in this time of year.
20:04You've heard of freedom fighters, but our Dawn's a friction fighter.
20:11We take on the supermarkets by removing the friction, from having to travel to supermarkets, having to queue and having to look on the shelves.
20:19It's the personal touch, the personal service.
20:23You can just simply go on social media and contact me and choose exactly what you want to your kitchen table and it will be there delivered to you within a 48 hour timescale.
20:34The weirdest message I've ever had, Dawn, I bought some sausages yesterday, I'm just wondering, we're cooking them in the microwave, can you tell me how long you would cook them sausages in the microwave for?
20:44I said I'd never done them in a microwave, being as polite as I could, but hey-o, am I to know? Yeah, absolutely crazy some people.
20:52Dawn's sales strategy is similar to Discount Dragons. She uses discounted cuts left over at the wholesalers, often after they've supplied supermarkets and high streets, and creates meat bundles that comply with the usual food industry standards, and always come with a snazzy title.
21:12We've done Chicken Fillet Evan, Bargain Buster, Razzle Dad's Barbecue Fandango with last week's offer.
21:19And Tyler's on standby to put together a brand new bundle, which is a mix of UK and imported products.
21:25Hello. Hello, love, are you alright? Not so bad, are you? Yeah, I'm alright, love. Right, I've thought about what pack we could do this morning.
21:35Right, so, a kilo of belly slices, a kilo of black garlic, sirloin steak, do you agree with that?
21:42Yeah, yeah.
21:43Black bean chicken stir-fry sizzler?
21:45Stir-fry, yeah.
21:46Some tandoori pork chops?
21:48And a kilo of sausage?
21:50Kilo.
21:51And that's it, I think, on that pack, because we can do that, believe it or not, at that 50 quid mark, and I think it'll go well.
21:56Right, I've got that marked down now.
21:58So, would you execute me that pack, love, and send me a picture as soon as you can?
22:02Certainly will do.
22:04Alright, well, thank you.
22:05No problem.
22:06Bye, love, bye.
22:07Better crack on.
22:09That will be sent within the next half an hour to my mobile phone, then that will be uploaded straight to my social media site, with the price on, for people to order it for delivery. That's how that process works.
22:21Right, time to chow down on those bacon butties. Brown sauce, of course. What's the verdict, Terry?
22:30You don't know any mission.
22:33As a nation of shoppers, we're all trying to cut the cost of our weekly shop.
22:42And 100 miles away from the bacon butties in Carnarvon is a company that's doing just that.
22:48Get a wriggle on, Sarah!
22:50I'm late.
22:5426 pallets has just turned up. What?
22:57Ah, right, half one.
22:58Ah, right.
22:59Right, all right, no worries.
23:00He just said nine.
23:03Monday morning, start of a new week.
23:05It's a busy butt's mill, as the Discount Dragon team get ready for a new week of surplus stock selling.
23:12Best steps you never get used to.
23:15Doesn't matter how many times you go up, and they wonder why we're slow when we get up top.
23:20Unlike the big supermarkets, the company has no physical stores, and all the sales come through the website.
23:30And one surefire way of attracting people to the site is by flogging stuff for just a penny.
23:36Each day we run our In For A Penny promotions where you doubt to be a genius.
23:42What is it? It's products for a penny.
23:44And today's one penny deal is already in full swing.
23:48We've already launched today with these M&Ms at a penny.
23:53Pretty big bag. I think they're five or six quid in the shops.
23:56So they're live right now.
23:59But the super popular penny deals don't last long, and the DD mantra is wigig.
24:04Tell them, Wayne.
24:05Deals don't last forever, they do come and go, and you've got to be quick because when it's gone, it's gone.
24:11Morning.
24:12Oh, amazing.
24:13Hey, you guys, are you?
24:14So thinking about this week's penny deals, we want to get the next seven days planned.
24:19At the Monday morning marketing meeting, the next one penny wonders are agreed on.
24:24These will all be lost leaders, sold for almost nothing, just to attract customers and generate a buzz.
24:31If we just go through the days of the week, what have we got covered?
24:34Tuesday, we're looking at the C4 energy drinks, the watermelon.
24:39A penny?
24:40A penny, yeah.
24:41So what's a penny on Wednesday?
24:44Wednesday is an important day for the marketing team, as they've splashed out on a TV advert that will go out at 7am.
24:52With TV in mind on Wednesday morning, what do you think about Kellogg's Nutri-Grain?
24:59It's a box of six bars for a penny.
25:02Yeah, I like it.
25:03You see the advert on telly, you go on DD, in your face, Kellogg's.
25:08Yeah.
25:09For a penny.
25:10Yeah, it's a big name.
25:11Yeah.
25:12It's a morning product, so I think it ticks all the boxes.
25:14All agreed?
25:15Agreed.
25:16Agreed.
25:17Yeah.
25:18Yeah.
25:19With the TV ad on Wednesday, Sarah needs to sexify the breakfast bars that will be the one penny deal that day.
25:28To identify the savings, we do include the RRP.
25:31I know that one, that's recommended retail price.
25:34We've got our sale price there for a penny, the RRP, and then the saving that the customer will ultimately be receiving.
25:42This promotion is going to be running on Wednesday, following the TV ad in the morning.
25:47With it being a penny special, it is going to sell pretty quick.
25:50Just finishing with some little touches, and then it'll go live on Wednesday.
25:5550 miles away across the Pennines in Leeds, they're not sexifying, but they are trend-jacking.
26:05The don of discount, Chris Edwards, is the boss of One Beyond.
26:09You've got to be on it every day.
26:11Currently, the newest and fastest growing value retailer in the UK.
26:16And jumping on trends, or trend-jacking as it's referred to in the trade, is a core part of the business.
26:23The business depends on trends.
26:25The biggest trend I remember was going back in the 80s, was the Rubik cube.
26:30They were queuing for them.
26:32Every so often, whether it be a toy item, whether it be a kitchen item, there's always something going on.
26:37And if you're good at your job, you're on it to improve your sales.
26:42And the latest trend Chris is pinning his hopes on is freeze-dried sweets.
26:47Welcome to Exploded Sweets. This is our headquarters.
26:50And this is where it all happens.
26:5385 miles away in Nottingham is the HQ of the brainchild of couple Amy and Simon.
27:00Are we doing it this here?
27:02This is it.
27:03I haven't even looked in the mirror.
27:04It's a shame about that spinach in your teeth, but you'll be fine. You'll be absolutely fine.
27:08Don't worry Amy, you look gorgeous.
27:11The duo's freeze-dried phenomenon is rapidly becoming one of the biggest trends in the UK confectionery market.
27:18Funnily enough, we started with vegetables and we wanted to make a product that was really healthy and we needed a freeze-dryer to do that.
27:27And Amy's friends told us one day they've heard of these freeze-dried sweets.
27:31Amy said we should throw some of these sweets in the dryer and do it alongside with the vegetables.
27:35I had to be persuaded, didn't I, to do it?
27:38Well, yeah, it's not the first time. Simon's not a big one for change.
27:42It's not thrown under the bus.
27:44We called it Exploded Sweets just because the freeze-drying process expands and explodes the sweets and it's unique.
27:51And it was unique.
27:52I can show you our process from start to finish and you can get a feeling for what it's like in a freeze-dried sweet business.
28:00Lead the way, sir.
28:03This is our pride and joy. This is our biggest freeze-dryer. It dries all our sweets for us.
28:08An example, we've got some popcorn mallows. It's really quite a straightforward process.
28:14All we have to do is take the raw sweet and we just put them onto the trays.
28:18So once the sweets are on the trays, we just slide them in.
28:24And we press go and it will dry over the next few hours.
28:27Oh, reminds me of trying to dry my knick-knack news when it's raining.
28:31After several hours, the sweets have been dried and they come out looking something a bit more like this.
28:36The freeze-drying process will remove all the moisture out of the sweets.
28:39That's where the crunchiness comes from.
28:41This was a start, very squishy, and this is a finished product. Very crunchy.
28:47Oh, good demoing there, Lyn.
28:53The One Beyond buyers caught wind of the freeze-dried treats and quickly got on board.
28:59But when the bags come off the packaging machine, they'll get boxed up
29:04and they'll wrap them onto these pallets and they'll get loaded onto lorries and go to One Beyonds.
29:09It's a 24-7 business for Amy and Simon.
29:14Even when we're at home, we're never shutting off.
29:16There's always little bits that we can discuss and deal with.
29:18Yeah, we carry on.
29:19But we're still smiling.
29:21Can't be too bad, he's just made us buy a tandem bike.
29:23Amy, that is...
29:24So we actually are joined at the hip.
29:25They're not going to put that on Channel 4.
29:27They're not, I'm just saying that, are they?
29:28You can't put this on Channel 4, bloody hell.
29:30The tandem store is staying in. Sorry, Simon.
29:34We do spend way too much time together.
29:35You're not going to use us, are you?
29:39Back in Leeds, the trending section is being stocked up with the exploded sweet treats.
29:45They're a trend item and they're selling like hell.
29:47And Chris is up for his first freeze-dried fix.
29:50I'm going to try these squishy bites, freeze-dried.
29:58Good hell.
30:00Tickled your taste buds, Chris.
30:05Coming up, Dawn does some alfresco advertising for her latest meat pack.
30:10Good afternoon, my little lovelies.
30:12Hectic morning.
30:13Trying to find more bargains for you lot.
30:15This one is an all-time cracker.
30:17Chris reveals the choccy sensation that he beat the supermarkets to
30:21that's flying off his shelves.
30:24We sold 30,000 last week. Finger on the buzzer.
30:28And marketing mishaps in Wigan.
30:30Whole enquiries going on at quarter to seven on WhatsApp.
30:33Couple of people blaming each other.
30:42Speak to people on any UK high street about the cost of living
30:46and you'll hear the same comments up and down the land.
30:49It's just extortionate really.
30:50I think we are getting ripped off.
30:53Hmm.
30:54No, I have not noticed that the cost of my weekly grocery shopping
30:56is going up and up and up and up and out of control.
31:01I've been thinking about taking a Zen pic so it's to save on food,
31:04to be honest.
31:05But in Wales there's a fight back.
31:09Dawn's Bargain Meats is exactly as it says on the tin.
31:13It is Dawn's Bargain Meat Pack.
31:16Dawn works with the wholesalers to take on the supers
31:19by offering low-cost meat packs,
31:21using up all of their supermarket surplus stock,
31:24keeping the prices down.
31:26And a key weapon in her arsenal is the picture pack.
31:30A photo showing a meat bundle that's available to buy.
31:35Up in Yorkshire, Dawn's son Tyler is putting the finishing touches.
31:39Just like that.
31:40To today's picture pack.
31:43It's going straight to Dawn, is that now?
31:45Despite the low prices,
31:47Dawn says all of the meat is welfare checked.
31:50It's not because the meat's out of date,
31:53it's not because the meat's not quality.
31:56I wouldn't cut anything or send anything out on a tray
31:59that I wouldn't eat myself.
32:05Pick your feet up, baby, don't walk on your tiptoes.
32:08We've got the picture now from Tyler, so I've downloaded it.
32:11The next process now is to upload it to social media.
32:14We have named it the Summer Extravaganza.
32:17It's got a little bit of stuff in there for a barbecue
32:19and will be live for all the public to see
32:21and purchase within the next ten minutes.
32:23Dawn, she don't mess about.
32:25She knows what she's doing.
32:27The pack that Dawn calls a bulk bundle
32:30contains nine items
32:32and includes
32:33chops, steaks, pork belly, chicken and sausages.
32:37Add costs, 45 quid.
32:39If you have to work that out on an average,
32:41you'll just realise how cheap
32:42buying off someone like a small business like us,
32:45you're looking at about £58 of their prices
32:48and someone small like me can offer it right to your door
32:50without even getting off your seats and driving your cars
32:52for £45.
32:54That's why we beat the supermarkets simple.
32:58A bold claim, Dawn,
33:00and a current surplus of beef and pork joints at the wholesalers
33:04has given Dawn an idea for another grabby meat bundle.
33:07I've got another idea that came into my thoughts
33:11of what I could do for this weekend.
33:13Really good barbecue pack.
33:14You're looking at like summer months now.
33:17It's all kebabs, skewers, burgers, sausage.
33:21It's all barbecue.
33:22You struggle to sell like a normal beef joint
33:25or a normal pork roast.
33:27So what we do there is, if they come in at a good price,
33:30we would do something else with them.
33:32So for instance, the top side joint,
33:34we would carve down into cubes
33:36and we would make some peppercorn beef skewers with them.
33:38There's always another avenue for every cut of meat.
33:46Before she's even created the pack,
33:48Dawn heads to the hills
33:50for a bit of alfresco advertising.
33:52My husband drives me out lovely areas we can find
33:56in and around Wales where we live.
33:58What we do now is we do this video.
34:01It's my personal touch to say hello
34:03instead of just from behind social media.
34:05This is what's known as social selling
34:08and Dawn's a dab hand at it.
34:10Good afternoon, my little lovelies.
34:12How are we up?
34:13Hectic morning.
34:14Trying to find more bargains for you lot.
34:17Okay.
34:18So we put a pack on earlier today
34:20that's a new exquisite one.
34:22But this one is an all-time cracker.
34:24Here we go.
34:25Let's get straight into it, guys.
34:26Right.
34:27We've got some massive ham shanks just being delivered.
34:30Then we are doing you a kilo of your minted lamb nibbler ribs.
34:35You're all going crazy on these.
34:37You're going to get a kilo of...
34:38Terry's just sitting back and watching the master at work.
34:40Mind you, he did drive her there.
34:41We need some puri puri drumsticks in there for the barbecue.
34:44And everything I've just told you is £29.99.
34:47Just absolutely crazy.
34:49Like I am.
34:50Crazy, crazy.
34:51Get your messages in right now.
34:53Love you all.
34:54Bye-bye now.
34:55And that is social media video of the day.
34:58Bravo.
34:59Top marketing.
35:00Inner field.
35:01A whole new meaning to free range.
35:04From videos in North Wales
35:06to TV ads in Greater Manchester.
35:08At the warehouse, it's Wednesday morning.
35:12And Wayne and Paul are watching their TV advert that went out earlier.
35:1724 cans of Diet Coke lime for just £29.
35:19She's loving that Coke.
35:20She does like that Coke, yeah.
35:21Pines tomato ketchup for just one piece.
35:24She matches the ketchup.
35:25Yeah, she does.
35:27And a Pringles multi-pack for just a penny.
35:30They've been a beast, haven't they?
35:32The Pringles.
35:33The Pringles, yeah.
35:34Unreal.
35:35The advert looks great, I think.
35:37They're pleased with the ad, but there's been a problem with the website.
35:41The one penny deal of the day wasn't changed in time.
35:44The plan was to feature Kellogg's product in sync with the advert this morning.
35:50I think I woke up about half six today.
35:53I checked the traffic on the website, which I do every morning.
35:56The traffic is already showing that it was too high.
35:59Send a message in the WhatsApp group, why is traffic so high?
36:02And the answer back to me was the TV station put the advert out earlier than we anticipated.
36:09So we weren't ready.
36:10We still had last night's offer on there.
36:12Whole enquiries going on at, you know, quarter to seven on WhatsApp.
36:16Couple of people blaming each other.
36:18All the usual things.
36:20But listen, it's no biggie.
36:21And mistakes happen all the time.
36:22That was sort of out of our control as well.
36:24Yeah.
36:25So, you know, it was fine.
36:26It's not the end of the world.
36:27The serial didn't go this morning.
36:29I think we're on TV again tomorrow morning.
36:31We'll just shift it across and on we go.
36:35They may be putting marketing mistakes behind them in Wigan,
36:38but over in Leeds, it's all eyes looking forwards.
36:42As they look for the latest crazes in commerce.
36:45Former boss of Pound World, Chris Edwards, knows a thing or two about monetising next big things.
36:51And he tries to be first to the fads.
36:54Every week, every day, there's something happening with something.
36:57And you've got buyers in the business who keep their ears to the ground and find out what's coming next.
37:03But crazes and trends can go as fast as they come.
37:07Every child wanted a squishy toy not so long ago, but now they're residing in mid-isle mediocrity.
37:13Well, these squishies was a trend, but what we find is, especially with a kid's item, a trend can be red-hot seller.
37:21And for no apparent reason, 48 hours later, it becomes apparent non-seller.
37:25You know, it's at the time, and the secret of buying is to buy enough to fill the gap, but not have any left when they're not special anymore.
37:35But not all crazes crash and burn. Some linger on.
37:3912 months ago, extra large drink tumblers were all the rage, and they're still ticking over today.
37:47This was a trend item. If it keeps maintaining some kind of sales, then it becomes a regular item from being a trend item.
37:53And if they've already got two or three of these cups and they see another colour and it's value for money, they'll have another one.
37:59Chocolate's always a big hitter when it comes to sales, and one of the biggest recent trends is this sweet tooth viral sensation.
38:07The moment this Dubai chocolate was selling thousands.
38:11Milk chocolate with a pistachio cream and tahini centre. It originated, guess what, in Dubai. Dubai or not Dubai. See what I did there?
38:20Apparently, Marks & Spencer's were the first one to touch this Dubai chocolate, but they had it in big bars for £10.
38:26And we've managed to locate the smaller bar, 425, and we were one of the first ones to get this size bar, and we've never looked back with it so far.
38:34Finger on the butter.
38:38We sold £30,000 last week, even though it's coming to the end of the trend.
38:43Because we make it viable and the price is right, then you get people trying it, without a doubt.
38:48Can I be honest, I've never tasted it. And don't forget I'm on a diet.
38:52Oh, come on, Chris. Time to pop your Dubai chocolate cherry.
38:56Well, here we go, then.
38:57Tastes all right, it's good.
38:58Coming up, Dawn's meat is put to the test.
39:14We're having a family barbecue tonight. We're getting a bulk buy, so we've got lots of food to treat everybody.
39:21And Wayne sees if his one-penny breakfast bar's got the nation munching.
39:25Today's penny deal we put on the website at 6am, ready for the advert, so looking at the sales on that, do I think that's a success?
39:32In Wigan, Wayne is tackling the six flights of stairs at his Cotton Mill Company headquarters.
39:45There's 96 steps. I try and only do them once a day.
39:50I sometimes check my heart rate on my watch, so right now, 103, which I think is pretty decent.
39:57Resting rate, 71, I think, maybe.
40:01You're just showing off now, Wayne.
40:03Here we go.
40:05Head of Creative Nile has just rocked up with a local speciality.
40:10Wigan come out. Nothing finer.
40:15What have you got?
40:16Wigan kebab.
40:17Wigan.
40:18Wigan.
40:19Wigan.
40:20Wigan.
40:21Wigan.
40:23Oh, aye, that's a good one, that. That's a good one.
40:26So what's in this wig and kebab then, Niall?
40:29Meat and my tape pie on a barn. Simple. Simple fee for a simple guy.
40:35So, not a kebab then?
40:40Yeah.
40:42That's good.
40:43Yeah, that's a good one.
40:44That's a good one in that.
40:45Do you want to find a bite?
40:47Go on, Wayne.
40:48Go on.
40:49Have opposite side. Go on, I'll feed it.
40:51This will be my baby.
40:53I've never had one.
40:54Come on.
41:00What do you think? Out of ten.
41:01Good aim, yeah.
41:02I'll take that.
41:04One foot.
41:06One foot.
41:07One foot.
41:08One foot.
41:10One foot.
41:11But not everything's as tasty today.
41:12After the fiasco of the last one penny promotional offer, the Kellogg's cereal bars have now gone out as a one penny deal on the website.
41:22But Wayne's not dining out on the numbers.
41:25So today's penny deal, looking at the sales on that, only 112 sold. Do I think that's a success? I'd say not. It won't be running again.
41:34I don't like calling things a failure because everything is a learning process. You know, we never fail. We learn. What have we learned today? Don't give the cereal bar that prime position on a day when there's a TV advert.
41:47But the good thing is we're in such a dynamic game, if you like. We go again tomorrow. For every bad day, we'll fix it and we'll have better days.
41:58Beating the supermarkets and giving cheap deals keeps Wayne buzzing.
42:03If someone says to me, Wayne, are you a workaholic, yes or no? Yeah, my answer's yes.
42:09You can never rest. It's a 365, 24-7 business.
42:13You could say surplus never sleeps.
42:17I'm extremely proud of the business. It's what I love doing. It's addictive.
42:28Hello, Dawn speaking. How can I help?
42:31Hi Dawn, I'm just wondering if you've got a rough delivery time.
42:34What postcode are you?
42:36From her farmhouse in Wales, Dawn Brightwell is making it cheaper for the nation to buy meat.
42:41You're going to be looking at after half past one, I know that much.
42:46She's challenging the supermarket's hold on shopping with her cut price cuts that come directly from a wholesaler's surplus.
42:54And fresh from a trip to the high street, Dawn's doing a price comparison.
42:58We've got four quarter pound beef burgers, four lamb chops here.
43:05We've got 700 grams of pork chops on the bone.
43:09We've got one sirloin steak.
43:11We've got a kilo of chicken thighs.
43:14We've got 750 grams of lean, less than 5% fat mince.
43:19Chicken thighs a kilo with some pork loin steaks there.
43:22And last but not least, we've got some chicken breast fillets.
43:26So I've paid in the supermarkets for that for £41 and £21.
43:31I can produce you exactly what is there in front of you, weight for weight, lean for lean.
43:38I could do you everything on there today for £30.
43:40That's a saving of more than 25%, meaning cheaper chops and less expensive loins.
43:47I am heavily competing with supermarkets.
43:51This is all down to cutting out the middle man, working straight from the wholesaler and having low cost from working here from home producing orders.
43:59You can get things cheaper by shopping around. You can beat the supermarkets.
44:03150 miles away in Yorkshire, two of Dawn's customers, Karen and Jodie, are about to get a mass hoof meat delivery.
44:14We're having a family barbecue tonight.
44:16We're getting a bulk buy, so we've got lots of food to treat everybody.
44:22Jodie!
44:24Who's at the door?
44:26Who's at the door?
44:28Oh, thank you so much.
44:30You're welcome.
44:32It's Christmas!
44:36We've got some burgers.
44:39No fat bun steaks.
44:40And then we've got fry steak, a big pack of that.
44:43There's more meat here than you can shake a carving knife at.
44:47Spiced chicken fillets, ten sausages, turkey steak, garlic drumsticks.
44:54Crikey ladies, is the whole of Leeds coming to this barbecue?
44:59And a garlic and herb pork loin joint, which is absolutely marvellous.
45:03We've had that before.
45:04So we've got all this for £100.
45:07At the supermarket, easily, probably about £160.
45:11I'd think about that. Yeah?
45:12It's a shame Dawn doesn't do alcohol.
45:18She doesn't do booze, and that's probably a good thing.
45:21But she is going to be marketing her meat for many moons to come.
45:26Oh, 100% meat's in my blood. There is nothing else.
45:28The brain is constantly ticking of what I can do with me,
45:33what I can make a pack out of, and what name I can give that pack.
45:37That is what I live and breathe for.
45:39The wholesaler sold 97 of Dawn's £29.99 barbecue packs.
45:44And the summer extravaganza pack went out to 85 customers north and south.
45:48Not bad for a butcher's daughter from Bradford.
45:51I think your old man would be proud of your daughter.
45:54Bless his soul.
45:55The best thing that happened to me was being my Dad's daughter.
45:58A wonderful man taught me everything I know to this day,
46:02from the early days in the market, selling meat on car boots.
46:06We did everything, me and Dad together, all the way through.
46:08So, yeah, it's very much in my blood as to what Dad did,
46:12and I followed his footsteps, and I'm proud of that to this day.
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