I Knew It Would Sell — But They Didn’t Know How to Listen
When I was working at Wowcher, we hadn’t yet hired a trend analyst, so my manager encouraged me to share any ideas I had directly with the leadership team. I took that seriously. I looked into Google Trends, scoured articles, and noticed that Reformer Pilates was quickly becoming a huge fitness trend — not just in London, but globally. I found an article about how Aldi (or maybe Lidl) in Australia had released a budget Reformer Pilates machine, and it sold out within minutes. That confirmed what I already knew: demand was growing, and consumers were hungry for affordable ways to access boutique fitness trends at home. So I pitched it. I emailed the idea directly to the Goods Director. I said, let’s jump on this — let’s list a simple Reformer Pilates machine at an accessible price point. The demand is there, the margin is there, and the trend is only going up. Nothing came of it. Or so I thought. Today, a year later, I have left Wowcher but out of pure curiosity, I visited thei...