The other team made over £1660 from their two products. The helmets only cost £16 so the bulk of that would have come from the push-chairs.

The birth pool was a reasonable choice from the point of sales numbers, and it seemed to sell roughly as many as the push-chairs. But they were selling it for £75 versus £135 for the push-chair, and on that basis it lost because the same number of units brought in less money. Even if James had picked the helmets instead of the rocking horse, and had sold as many as Lorraine's team did, he'd not have managed to make up the £940 difference in totals.

(I don't think they'd both be allowed to sell the same products, but I hope you get the point.)

If they'd put more effort into selling birth-pools, that might have worked too. The vendor reckoned she'd done £5000 over 3 days, so he should have got £1666 from one day, especially as it was said to be the best day. But he didn't. He had 4 people on his team; I find it hard to believe he didn't have enough to sell both products.

They missed the obvious point with the pool - once the kid grows up a bit, you can fill it up and use it in the garden in the summer. That way if Mummy-to-be buys it, but goes to hospital in the end, at least she has a pool.

I'd buy one and fill it with bikini clad chicks..I'd be like Hugh Hefner!

Seriously tho, one thing I have noticed is this. It was scored, it seems, on net sales. Why wasn't it scored on the profit margin? Or was it and I'm being daft?

There wasn't a profit margin as such as the products were sold at the agreed price. The task was about whether you took risks and sold a few or in bulk.

You'd need a big garden for that too, no?

IMO, all the choices were wrong for the day, except the crash helmet, which was the only impulse buy I might have made. Why did they not sell something like booksets or baby memories stuff? Or a toy that was about £30 worth? If I had been to a baby show, that would be the stuff I'd buy to take back home on an impulse. Not a birthing pool or a pushchair.

The other thing is that you'd need a big house for a birthing pool. I know it wouldn't have fit into my tiny house, so that's another few thousands off the market. And I know I spent more than a few days researching travel systems and prams. I would definitely not have gone for a untested brand wothout any reviews.

The moms and I were chatting about this in playgroup, and all of us were of the same mind. Some said they may have considered the buggy, but the birth pool was a ?? for most of them.

I have a question, if both teams had plumped for the buggy, would only one team have been able to hawk it at the fair?

So technically could James have had to do the pools anyway? (I think considering the slim market for it, Yas and James did a great job, and it was dirt cheap, you could use it as a paddling pool in the summer )

I presume so, as that was the case in the wedding show task (s4) and the art task (s3)

They didn't get a choice of any of that sort of stuff. They had to choose from the products on the lists they were given at the beginning ... pushchair, birth pool, rocking horse, hat, high heel shoes ?!, cradle, sling, etc ... there may have been more that were edited out for time, but i imagine that if there was anything really viable that they'd missed it would have been shown and SA would have made a point of asking them why they didn't pick that item ...

Also from the sound of it, although it wasn't really explained, it sounded like there were two lists and they had to pick a product off each list ... so maybe a list of more expensive higher risk stuff and a cheaper list ...?

In the end the program is for entertainment and not for judging the skills of those taking part

If the other team had struck lucky and found someone to buy the rocking horse they could posibly have one.

Whether they made a sensible business decision in stocking the Rocking horse and birthing pool would be total another thing.

In the real world I suspect none of them would get onto a shortlist even. Most are disorganised argumentative and cannot work as a team. THey also show poor skills and judgement

They had a very limited range of items to choose from. I dont think the helment was a sensible choice, low cost yes but not much of a market. How many children do you know that go around wearing one?


As for the buggy. It was in a price range that many would buy on impulse. They would have had publiicity material to hand out as for it being untested that would be incorrect. All prams have to undergo safety testing and certification before they can be put on the market.

Given the limited items available to them the Buggy was a good choice

Yeah, in cases where both team want the same product, isn't it normally the supplier who get to choose which team they'd prefer to represent them ... probably neither!

That's what happened last year when both teams wanted the novelty flip flops and bikinis, the supplier went with the team that had secured the well known wedding dress designer.

James?

I'd buy it if it came with Yasmina

I think I'd have bought a birthing pool if I'd been there, especially if James had kept up the sales spin about it being great for pain relief. Even if I wasn't having a home/water birth, I think the pool would be a great investment.

Great for labour, or any twinges that you get beforehand and then could maybe be used after birth with the baby - a sort of mini-swimming pool to get the baby used to splashing about before venturing to mother and baby swimming clubs...

I just liked it!