Paw Print T-Shirts - Chester Trade Your Way to the USA

CBBC is once again on the hunt to find Britain's best young traders.

We've scoured the country

to find the next generation of budding entrepreneurs.

They need to know how to buy, how to sell, and how to close that deal.

Everything must go!

From more than 1,500 applicants,

just 14 teams have made it through to the heats.

Now the battle begins in Trade Your Way To The USA.

They'll each be given £75 cash and a tough trading challenge.

They must decide what to buy...

Which trick draws the biggest crowd?

This one.

..negotiate the lowest price...

What would you say at 20p a nose?

I'd say absolutely no.

..and then sell, sell, sell!

-Come on, guys.

-£2! £2 for these!

-Roll up!

-One more, come on, come on!

The team that makes the most money wins the challenge...

60, 70, £70.

..and a place on our all-important leader board.

Only the top four teams go through to the semi-finals

and only one of them will be crowned Britain's best young traders

in Trade Your Way To The USA.

Please buy!

Trade Your Way To The USA is back and it's tougher than ever.

Today, some of Britain's best young traders will be

tested to the extreme.

Let's meet the two teams who dare take our challenge.

It's Penny Pinchers versus Destiny Hawks.

We're the Penny Pinchers and we're going to trade our way to the USA!

Best buddies Maisie, Lucy and Grace live in Hull.

They're one tight-knit group of girls.

We've been friends since primary school and we're determined to win.

These eager entrepreneurs have already

turned a pretty profit selling sweets.

Our top trading tip is...

..work together as one...

..and that'll bring us sweet success!

Maisie is Penny Pinchers' creative brain.

We're going to flip our competition

into submission!

Wannabe lawyer Grace will be laying down the law.

Objection!

We will overrule the opposition!

And team leader Lucy is a force to be reckoned with.

If I'm not organising, nothing ever gets done.

A message to our opponents -

we're going to knock the stuffing out of you!

Pillow fight!

These girls mean serious business.

Pick your penny up off the floor.

Don't you worry...

..cos we've got more!

We're the Destiny Hawks and we're going to trade our way to the USA.

Trading trio Eshan, Mohammed and Zahid are from Bolton in Lancashire.

On the school debating team, they're used to getting their way.

I propose that the Destiny Hawks are without a doubt today's top traders.

Zahid is team leader.

I was given the job as a marketing director

in a school enterprise project.

We even made the newspapers for making over £200.

Eshan is the business brain.

I set up a greetings card business and sold hundreds

to parents and pupils at school.

And Mohammed's their man for figures.

I've done my sums and I've worked out very carefully

that Destiny Hawks are destined to win.

These cricket-mad lads are sure they'll thrash the competition.

We'll bowl them over.

We'll knock 'em for six.

And we'll catch 'em out.

Penny Pinchers better watch out for these boys.

It's our destiny to become successful traders

and we have a good eye for a bargain, just like hawks.

THEY SCREECH LIKE HAWKS

So, it's Destiny's Hawks going head-to-head with Penny Pinchers.

But who will make the most money and win today's challenge?

Only they stand a chance of trading their way to the USA.

The teams have arrived in Chester with no idea

what their challenge will be.

But, as the city's home to Britain's biggest zoo,

they should expect plenty of monkey business.

Welcome to Chester Zoo.

More than a million people visit the 8,000 animals here each year.

They love to take something home

and spend tens of thousands of pounds on souvenirs.

Your challenge is to design and sell

a brand-new range of souvenir T-shirts and mugs.

Each product must feature an animal paw print.

You will get to choose which animal print,

colour and style of product you want to buy.

You must negotiate the lowest prices and then sell, sell, sell.

It's simple.

The team that makes the most money wins the challenge.

Here are your trading funds.

Destiny Hawks, Penny Pinches, I've given you each £75 to trade with.

-Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

Let's get buying!

The first rule of buying is to understand the product

you're selling and that's why you're here to meet Steve.

He's got all the answers for you to be successful in this task.

The key is for you to ask the right questions.

Now, when I'm selling and buying products,

I remember the four Ps of business.

Price, place, promotion, and product.

Ask questions around those topics and you won't go far wrong.

Here are your notebooks. Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

-Let's go!

Steve's company designs and prints T-shirts.

If anyone knows how to turn

animal print mugs and T-shirts into tenners, it's him.

With just 15 minutes to quiz him, every question counts.

With a T-shirt like this and a basic pattern,

how much would you usually sell it for?

They start at around £2.50, including the first print.

For example, we've got animals like meerkats, rhinos and tigers,

and you can have them in different sizes.

Is there a most popular brand?

Not really. It's all about what you print onto it that makes it popular.

Great question, Maisie.

She's trying to weed out the bestsellers. Excellent!

Do you offer any discounts if you buy in bulk?

Well, that depends on how many you're looking at buying, really.

It's really important to establish that the person

you're doing business with is up for discounts,

and Zahid established that Steve will give discounts on bulk.

Great one!

What usually sells more, mugs or T-shirts?

We sell 30 T-shirts for every mug that we sell.

Would you be able to sell them as a pack?

So you could do maybe a family pack or an adult pack, or a children pack?

Yeah, absolutely.

My top tip in business is always ask the experts how to sell the product.

There's no better person.

Whatever promotions you can think of that might increase your sales,

then, obviously, you're free to do.

OK, guys, your time for questioning is up. Thank you very much, Steve.

You're welcome.

Now you've got the hard task of deciding which products to buy.

Come with me.

The teams must spend their £75 wisely to be in with a chance

of winning and trading their way to the USA.

But, first, they must decide which colour T-shirts

and which pawprints will pull in the pounds.

-Could we have a red T-shirt, please?

-Yeah, definitely. There you are.

OK, and could we have a tiger paw at the front?

-OK, is that this one here?

-Yep, that's the one.

-Can we have the blue colour?

-Yeah.

I think that one looks good.

In business, it pays to be focused and decisive. Great stuff, boys!

Now, the mugs. For the print, we want the penguin one.

Do you want them in black or do you want to change the colour?

-I think it looks fine in black, yeah.

-So shall I save that?

Yeah, that's fine.

So they're going for penguin feet on the mugs and

tiger, bear and giraffe footprints on the T-shirts.

What about the girls?

Could you see what it's like with "I went to...the zoo"?

We were thinking we could have meerkat prints.

Meerkat ones, angled round in a circle.

No problem.

-I think that looks good.

-Yeah, that's perfect.

-OK.

The girls have chosen tiger

and meerkat pawprints with catchy slogans for their T-shirts and mugs.

Only time will tell which design wins the day.

Next, the teams must work out how much stock to buy.

How many children's T-shirts are we going to buy?

Didn't Steve say that for every 30 T-shirts, one mug would be sold?

So, obviously, the mugs won't sell as well as the T-shirts.

Well, there's a lot of chitchat going on in here.

How are you feeling and how's your strategy?

We've got a range of different colours to pick from,

like we've got royal blue, like, pink and red.

Are you buying for men, women or children?

-Unisex, all ages.

-OK.

Grace, when you go into your negotiation,

what is going to be your strategy?

We're going to start low, and if he says a higher price,

we'll meet in the middle of where we both said.

Well, it sounds like you have got a very good plan.

-I'll see you later.

-ALL: Bye.

Penny Pinchers have a very clear plan.

What about Destiny Hawks?

OK, Destiny Hawks, can you tell me what your ideas are so far?

Well, most likely, children would like to buy T-shirts

with animal pawprints on them, so we thought

the majority of the T-shirts we'll use are children's ones.

We wanted to keep it simple and, from previous experience,

we know what colours we liked as children.

In business, it's good to draw on your personal experience.

It should help you make the right decisions.

Now, it's time to buy, buy, buy!

Destiny Hawks reckon that a simple design for all the family

will help them make the most money.

Penny Pinchers are convinced that their eye-catching logo

will help them stand out against the competition

and make the most profit.

But that's if they can negotiate the best prices

on their souvenir mugs and T-shirts.

Their items are chosen. Their designs are done.

It's time to negotiate with Steve.

They have to haggle hard for the best prices now

so they can make the most money tomorrow

and stand a chance of trading their way to the USA.

It's the girls up first.

Right, then, guys, what can I do for you?

On the adults' tops, altogether seven shirts, it would have been £21.50,

and we've knocked it down to £10.75, which is...

Wow.

..half price.

That is amazing.

Maisie's gone straight in there and asked for 50% off.

Now, that's pushy!

-I'm going to say, straightway, no to 50% off.

-Right, OK.

That's too low. What's your next offer?

Could we maybe say £12.75?

£12.75.

OK. No, I think that's still a little bit low, really.

OK, £15?

£14.50.

£14.50?

I think it would have to be the 15.

All right, 15.

SHE MOUTHS

So, on the kids' tops, we'd like 12.

-So that's 12 of the children's tops in total.

-Yeah.

-Altogether, that'd cost £48.

-OK.

And we're going to start at a price of £25.

Again, that's still, like, a lot less, isn't it? That's over £20 off.

Maybe £28 and that's the most we could probably go.

Well, if I write that down for now.

That's £28 at the moment on the kids' tops.

Penny Pinchers are getting some great discounts.

Watch this. This is how it's done.

We've decided on five mugs

and we thought that £10.50 was over the higher price limit,

so we thought that would be quite a good starting price.

-So, if I was to do this, then it would be £53.50 in total.

-Yeah.

So, that leaves the girls £21.50 left to spend.

I reckon, if they're pushy, they could get another ten T-shirts.

That means more stock which means more profit

and a better chance of winning this challenge.

So, two more tops, blue and red, in the small adults, please.

Could we have the two T-shirts for £4?

Erm, yeah. We can do that.

-OK. So we've got enough for some more tops.

-Shall we get some more kids'?

I think, definitely, we should get some more.

-Should we get one more in each colour?

-Yeah.

-So there would be two extra ones?

-Yeah.

I'd have spent all the money on T-shirts but they want more mugs.

Could we have one more mug, as well, please?

Do you think we could have two mugs, actually?

So, two mugs extra, so that would be three extra mugs.

So if we could do all that for 75, then I think I'd be happy with that.

ALL: Thank you.

No wonder Steve's happy.

The girls have ended up paying over double what they paid

for the first lot of mugs.

Next up, the boys.

Right, then, guys, how can I help?

Well, for these children's T-shirts, we want six of each colour.

It's £30 for both sets.

-Hang on a minute. Right, so they're £2.50 each.

-Yeah.

-How many of each are you wanting?

-We want six of each.

-Six of each.

Zahid is very confident and he's really leading this negotiation.

They're excellent business traits. Well done.

-So that's 12 T-shirts, so 30 quid.

-Good.

We were looking to maybe get a discount on them.

Well, obviously we do negotiate discounts but let's see

-how many you're going to be buying at the end.

-OK.

-Then we'll take it from there.

-OK.

Now onto the men's one. We're looking to buy three of each top.

So three of the purple one and three of the black one.

-So that's £12 in total.

-Yeah.

We're looking to buy five women's.

OK. So that's five shirts.

So that'll be £10.

And then for the mugs, they are £2.75,

-we're going to buy five of them.

-Right.

-And two glittery ones.

-OK.

So that obviously brings you to £75.

-Now, we were looking to negotiate with that.

-OK.

What offer do you have for me?

How about maybe something around 68.50?

Incredible!

They've only asked for a £6.50 discount off £75.

No, but I could go down to, probably, 70 for you.

So, £70 and for that £5 that's remaining,

would you throw in another three tops, two men's and one women's?

-So you'd do two?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, OK, I could do that for you.

-Does that sound good? Do we have a deal?

-Yes.

I don't think that's a good deal.

If that was me, I would have gone for 25% off.

-It was nice doing business with you.

-Thank you very much.

-Cheers.

-Thanks.

OK, thank you very much.

-Thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

So, Destiny Hawks have ended up with two glitter and six penguin mugs,

along with 28 of the best-selling T-shirts for their £75.

There's yellow with a giraffe's foot for the women,

black or purple with a bear's paw for the men,

and blue or red with a tiger's paw for the kids.

Penny Pinches were doing brilliantly but they paid too much

for those extra mugs when they could have bought some T-shirts.

They've ended up with eight mugs and only 23 T-shirts.

Red and blue with a tiger paw for the adults

and pink and blue with meerkat pawprints for the kids.

With their choices made,

it's now all down to the selling day tomorrow.

Winning this challenge hinges on three things - best price,

best design and best sales team.

Today, Destiny Hawks go head-to-head with Penny Pinchers.

Both are desperate to win as a win today keeps them in with a chance

of competing in the Trade Your Way To The USA grand final,

and becoming Britain's best young traders.

Good morning, Destiny Hawks.

Good morning, Penny Pinchers.

Welcome to Chester Zoo.

In a few hours, the doors will open

and around 3,000 visitors are expected.

Your challenge is to sell them T-shirts and mugs,

and you have two hours to do that.

Remember, the team that makes the most money wins the challenge,

and only they stand a chance of trading their way to the USA.

-Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

Let's set up stall.

The teams need to get ready for the crowds.

It's the first time they've seen how their designs have turned out.

SHRIEKS

That's so good!

Look at the mugs! That's better than we thought it would be.

Perfect colour T-shirts.

Maisie, tell me what the prices are.

-Well, we've got, for the kids' T-shirts, 7.99.

-OK.

And then the adults', 8.99.

But we thought if they don't sell at the end, we've got a back-up plan.

So, for example, we're going to have an adult T-shirt,

a kid's T-shirt and a mug that originally would have cost £24,

but we're going to round it to the nearest 10 which is £20,

and say that we've knocked off £4.

Penny Pinchers are so well prepared, they even have a strategy worked out

for the end of the challenge. How are the boys doing?

Destiny Hawks, tell me about your pricing.

-For the children's, it's £6. For the men's, it's £7.50.

-£7.50.

The women's are seven.

Destiny Hawks have more T-shirts to sell

but their prices are almost £2 lower

They're really going to have to sell, sell, sell

if they want to win this challenge.

The customers are going to be coming up very soon, so good luck.

With their stalls set, let the trading battle commence.

Teams, are you ready?

-ALL: YES!

-Three, two, one, start trading!

HOOTER BLARES

It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Why not come and try out some of our tops?

How cute! Do you like it?

-Yeah.

-Well, that's only £8.

Thank you very much. Have a lovely day. Bye. Thank you.

What a great selling technique.

The girls are going for the children,

hoping the parents will buy them the T-shirts. Cheeky!

Maisie is very confident and very energetic

and they are great skills for a salesperson.

Yeah, it's going quite well.

We've already got £20 and I'm so excited.

We just need to go and get some more people.

A great start for the girls, so what about the boys?

Would you be interested in buying any T-shirts?

Oh, no, I'm OK, thanks.

Are you sure? Go on, it would look nice on you.

Would you like to buy any T-shirts for your child or yourself?

No, I'm all right, mate.

It's not going well at the moment

cos people are not really tempted to buy them.

I'm not sure why.

The boys are demonstrating their designs

but they don't seem to be selling them.

-Go on, ask him!

-No, he's gone now.

Ask these lot. Ask these lot.

No, I'm too shy.

In fact, Eshan's not selling at all.

They really need to get it together

if they want to trade their way to the USA.

Let me tell you, as a customer, I'm interested in your design,

in the price and why I should buy from you, rather than them.

So you need to think of a clever strategy to say,

"This is what we've got."

Sell them the deal, tell them why they're different with more energy.

-OK.

-Got it?

-Can I interest you in these T-shirts?

-No, thanks.

100% cotton.

-WOMAN LAUGHS

-It's a great design.

An hour left.

Great! The boys are getting out there with their T-shirts.

How are the girls doing?

Excuse me, would you like a T-shirt?

-Er, blue?

-BOYS: Yeah.

We've also got them for adults as well if you'd like one.

-I'm all right.

-I want the blue.

Not too good.

Their tactics may have worked selling the children's T-shirts

but they're having less luck with the adults.

Mugs and T-shirts!

Can I interest you in these? Are you sure?

It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

OK, thank you.

We've tried to sell to a lot of adults but it's just not working,

so we're going to try it to the kids and put it as a pack.

The girls have realised they can't shift the adult T-shirts,

so they're bringing in their family package deals to get rid of them.

In business, you have to adapt to the situation and,

if your stock isn't selling, change your game plan.

We've got the top adults and top kids so it would have been £16.90

but we can knock it down to £14.48.

-14.48, that's a bargain, isn't it?

-Well done, Maisie.

That's an £8 profit on their family pack.

I'm not worried about the adults any more.

If I keep doing that, I think it'll work.

And it looks like Destiny Hawks have really found their form.

T-shirts and mugs. This will look great on your daughter.

We can get a bigger size, if you want.

-Two for 10.

-Oh, you're very good!

-There you go, young man.

-Thank you.

-Nice doing business with you.

Good.

Eshan's persistence is really paying off. Well done.

That's two T-shirts for £10. Brilliant!

Just 15 minutes to go.

Come on, you're missing out on something here!

Cheap prices, we do lots of deals!

How about a T-shirt and a mug for £10?

Yep. Here you go.

Thank you.

With all the boys selling hard, Destiny Hawks have sold

a mug and a T-shirt for £10,

and a kid's T-shirt for £6.

Thank you very much. Have a nice day.

Destiny Hawks are racking up those sales but what's this?

Do you like this T-shirt?

Penny Pinchers are trying to pinch the competition's customers.

OK, thank you.

Two can play at that game.

Did you shrink it in the wash?!

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

-Ah, you see?

-Oh, no, no, no!

He's done you on the size.

They've got ten minutes left and both teams are feeling the pressure.

Their tactic - trying to steal each other's customers.

Would you like a T-shirt?

Better deals, better quality. Come to me, not her!

Ours is better deals, better quality.

-Don't go to her!

-Lot more for your money.

-She's ripping you off!

Shut up!

There's just five minutes left.

If that was me, I'd get rid of everything at a reduced price.

Grab your bargains! Low prices, just dropped them.

-Two for a fiver, that's it.

-Thank you very much.

We could do two adults' for the price of one.

-I'll have two smalls, please.

-That's £9, thank you.

Go, girl power!

We've got the right sizes for you as well.

With just minutes to spare,

Destiny Hawks find a great selling opportunity.

Medium one, yeah?

That's a red.

Thank you very much.

It was the biggest sale of the day and I'm really, really happy

because it's more stock gone and more money for us.

But will that be enough to win?

It'd really suit you.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six...

-Two for a fiver, is that OK?

-Yeah, that'll do.

..three, two, one, stop trading.

HOOTER BLARES

Girls, can I have your cash tin? Good luck.

Thank you.

Team, can I have your cash box?

Good luck.

Well done, lads. We did the best we could do.

I think we've got an absolutely fantastic chance of winning

and if we don't, it's not the end of the world but we've tried

our hardest and really think we've got a good chance.

-And that's all we could do.

-Yeah.

They came,

they sold,

but only one team has conquered.

Is it Penny Pinchers or Destiny Hawks who've made the most cash

and are in with a chance of trading their way to the USA?

I've been watching you over the last two days

and I have to say I've been really impressed with what I've seen.

Well done.

Remember, 1,500 young top traders applied to be in your position

but only 14 teams made it through,

so you should be very proud of yourselves.

But only one team can win today's challenge.

And only they stand a chance of trading their way to the USA.

The money has been counted.

Destiny Hawks,

you took...

..£110.20.

Penny Pinchers,

you took...

DRUM ROLL

..£171.97.

SHRIEKING

Congratulations.

So, Penny Pinchers are today's champions

and in with a chance of competing in the USA.

I'm so happy. We can't wait to tell our mums.

It's just the shock of it when she said how much we'd actually got,

compared to what the boys did.

We've all worked as a team together to pull this off

and it's all paid off, cos we won.

I've learnt from this experience to become a more confident person.

I wish them all the best and I hope they can trade their way to the USA.

Penny Pinchers, you took the most cash so you are our winners.

It earns you a place on our leaderboard

but will your £171.97 be enough to take you into the top four?

Because only the top four teams will fight it out in the semifinals.

Penny Pinchers' £171.97 puts them second

and knocks DNA out of the competition.

So, 3's Company, Penny Pinchers, Street Smart Sellers,

and Team Synergy go through to the semi-finals.

Today's a winning team were successful because,

right from the start, they were describing the features

and benefits of their products - a very effective selling technique.

And one well worth remembering

if you want to trade your way to the USA.

Next time on Trade Your Way To The USA,

it's the first of our semifinals.

66 for £33.

Not even close.

3.50 each, £3, two for £5.

Work out the pricing and just stick to it.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd