Episode 8 Trade Your Way to the USA

CBBC's search for Britain's best young traders is hotting up!

From over 2,000 applicants, only four teams have made it

through to this point.

Welcome to the semifinal of Trade Your Way To The USA!

The heats are over

and the toughest trading challenge is about to get even tougher.

The team that wins today's challenge will go through to the grand final

in the USA.

Let's meet today's two semifinalists.

It's Determination versus Top Dogs.

Determination are best mates Jasmine, Alice and Chloe.

They're in top position on the leaderboard after

making £210.60 from their comic book cookie-trading challenge.

They believe their bubbly personalities win every time.

What?

We're feeling so excited to be in the semifinals.

TEAM: USA, USA, USA!

Last time, me and Jasmine didn't give it enough personality.

That is selling.

Standing here like this... See the difference?

Alice is their secret weapon, with a combination of confident

negotiation...

-Are you hardcore?

-When it comes to haggling,

I know what I'm talking about.

..and super sales skills.

My heart is racing, I really need to sell this final cookie.

Thank you so much. Have a nice day. Yes!

We're all really nervous, but we're ready.

TEAM: We're Determination and we're going to trade our way to the USA!

But to get there, they have to beat Top Dogs -

Jamie,

Archie

and Alexander.

They came fourth on the Trade Your Way To The USA leaderboard,

and Top Dogs are not going to roll over without a fight.

We knew we'd get this far cos we're a confident team

and we're confident in our strategies.

They asked all the right questions in their fudge-trading challenge.

What sells the best?

But did Jamie's tough trading go too far?

-I'll do six for £1.95.

-No.

As their effortless charm saw them succeed in Scotland.

There's a wee bit of silver for you.

TEAM: Thank you!

So, are they good enough to beat the girls

and get through to the grand final?

We're team Top Dogs and we're going to trade our way to the USA!

Top Dogs, Determination, get ready!

It's the semifinals. And it's simple.

The team that makes the most money in today's Trade Your Way challenge

will go through to the grand final in the USA.

The teams have arrived at the River Thames in London with no idea

what their challenge will be. All they know is that they have

to win this task to make it into our USA grand final.

Good morning, Determination. Good morning, Top Dogs.

Welcome to Greenwich in London's docklands.

You're standing beneath the Cutty Sark,

one of the greatest ships the world has ever seen.

In 1869, it was Britain's fastest trading vessel,

transporting tea, all around the globe.

And the team that wins today will be trading their way to the USA.

This ship may be standing still now

but business in Greenwich is booming.

Thousands of people shop at the market every year.

Your task is to sell them gourmet popcorn,

hand-selected by yourselves from over 27 flavours.

You'll get to negotiate the lowest prices... And then sell, sell, sell.

Here's your trading fund.

As it's the semifinals, I've given you each £150 to trade with.

Teams, are you ready?

-TEAMS: Yes!

-Let's go.

Determination and Top Dogs have £150 each to buy their popcorn.

With 27 flavours,

let's hope their heads don't pop with all that choice.

I've brought you here to meet the family who make gourmet popcorn.

Forget salt and sweet,

these guys have developed some of the most amazing-flavoured

popcorn on the market.

Here are your books.

Asking the right questions now will determine whether you

win a place in the USA grand final.

It's semifinals time. Are you ready?

-TEAMS: Yes.

-Let's go!

This really is a family business -

run by mum Jackie, son Adam and dad Joseph,

who comes up with all the amazing flavours.

The teams have just 15 minutes to find out which popcorn

will pull the punters.

Teams, here are your experts, Joseph and Adam.

Now, I'm expecting some popping questions.

Which flavours are your best-selling?

The best flavours would start at the classical flavours

such as salted caramel or chocolate

moving into goat's cheese, caramel, pepper and chilli or Madras curry.

-What's your unique selling point?

-We call it flavour sequencing.

For example, we take caramel, pepper and chilli version,

you will taste it in the order of caramel,

then you'll taste black pepper

and eight seconds after the person puts it in their mouth,

they will get a hit of chilli at the back of the throat.

What's your top tip for selling?

What we've found works really well

is when the customers try the product.

If they try it, they will love it and they'll buy it.

I hope they are making notes of the biggest selling tip -

you've got to taste this product to sell it.

What price would you sell us the packets of popcorn?

For the large bags, £3.

And on the small bags, that'd be £1.50.

Would you suggest we get loads of the same flavour or lots of variety?

I'd go with no more than probably six flavours.

Both teams have really improved their questioning skills.

They are acting like real semifinalists.

This is going to be exciting.

Teams, your time for questioning is up.

Adam and Joseph, thank you very much.

Now you have to decide which of the 27 flavours you are going to buy.

Follow me.

If I was doing this task at this stage of the competition,

I'd buy a few of the best selling flavours in bulk.

Simple business.

But Top Dogs have their own ideas.

How many flavours are we going to buy?

Seven, eight...?

-Seven.

-Seven.

-Seven.

-Eight is far too many.

I think we should get exciting ones - so caramel, pepper and chilli.

This one.

Top Dogs, it looks like you've been tasting.

-Plenty.

-What do you think about the popcorn?

It tastes like Willy Wonka -

you know, the whole meal in one piece of bubble gum.

You've been in this position before, what have you learnt from last time?

Last time, we had left over money

and we bought tasters with it which was a really, really good idea.

You can't be paying for samples.

You got to go in there and negotiate it for free!

This is the semifinals, time to smell the popcorn.

Good luck and negotiate hard.

Just like in the heats, the boys want little

amounts of lots of flavours but they also want free samples.

What about the girls?

Goat's cheese and black pepper, we haven't really thought of that.

When I think of goat's cheese, I think, "Ew."

Let's give it a try.

I think that's a no-no.

What about the white chocolate caramel?

-Yeah, that'll be good for children.

-People like chocolate.

-We're getting the toffee, apple and cinnamon.

-Yep.

Determination, OK, have you tasted the popcorn?

-TEAM: Yep.

-What do you think?

-Yummy.

From what I remember last time, your negotiation was very good.

Are you going to change anything this time around?

No.

We're starting low and we have the highest price that we're

-going to pay for it and...

-Bulks.

-..buy in bulk and we're just going

to be clear on our prices and we're going to be tough.

Girls, what's the one thing that's going to help you sell this product?

-TEAM: Tasters.

-Exactly, good luck.

Determination believe that keeping it simple will see shoppers

eating out of their hands.

Top Dogs think that variety will get their customers popping

back for more.

But it's down to who can negotiate the best prices for their popcorn.

With their popcorn picked, it's time for the teams to negotiate

with Adam.

First up, Top Dogs with their risky strategy of buying little amounts

in lots of flavours.

We really liked your product.

Thank you very much.

It is unique and I think it will sell at the artisan fair.

It always pays to be nice and friendly to your supplier.

For the goat's cheese, we're going to start off with the small packets.

-OK.

-We would like to start off with one bag of goat's cheese for 50p.

I can't go anywhere near 50p, guys.

Go up to 70p.

I really can't.

We're still quite a way off.

Um, £1?

-Just for the one?

-Well, we're going to buy 7.

Why are they buying in such small quantities?

I could do it for £1.10.

I'll give you £1.05.

-Yeah, OK, I can do that.

-Thank you.

Well done, Jamie, that's 45p a packet less than Adam

normally charges.

We're also going to buy the smooth caramel, honey and hazelnut.

-Yep.

-Nine bags for £1 individually.

Yeah, all right, we'll do that.

Now, we're going to go on to big bags.

-Yep.

-We want the smooth caramel, honey and hazelnut.

-Yep.

-And we're looking at five bags?

And let's start at £1.80?

I can't, no, not for five bags.

-£1.90?

-No.

£1.95, come on just £1.95.

I can't, if you were to do 20 bags.

The boys seem to be sacrificing bulk for variety.

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

£2 for five.

Sure, we'll do it for £2.

Five, OK.

Next we have the caramel and Belgium chocolate.

-Yep, good flavour that one.

-Yeah, it's very nice.

-We want eight of these.

-Yep.

-Start off at £1.

For the big ones? Can't do that.

Hm. Uh...

£1.75.

No, you're still quite a way off.

£1.80.

Adam is one top negotiator.

Top Dogs need to hold their nerve.

I can't do it for £1.80.

£2?

I'll do that for £2, that's fine.

If they are going for this much variety,

they must get those tasters.

Will you give us, like, a free bag for a taster?

Of the Belgium Chocolate one?

-Yes.

-Yeah, I'll do that for you.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

120, 130, 140, 150.

Perfect, thank you very much, guys.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

The boys have small amounts of seven different flavours.

Will the girls' bulk buying get them a better deal?

Hello, I'd just like to say your popcorn is very nice.

Thank you very much.

I'm just going to start with the salted caramel.

-Yep.

-We'd like 40 packets, 20 small and 20 large.

-Yep.

-For the smalls, could we get 70p each?

Alice is not messing around. She means business.

I can't do it for 70p, no.

80p?

Still a long way off, on the small, we start at £1.50.

£1 is responsible, seeing as we are buying in bulk.

-So how many of those do you want?

-We would like 20 of those.

I can do that for £1.

Thank you.

And the large, each one, £1.20.

No, we're really, really a long way off.

We start at £3 for the big...

Considering we are buying 20 of these off you,

the least you can do is give us a good deal.

I think £1.50 is a great price

and I think that's the one I'm going to stand on.

I could probably come to £2.20, but I can't come to £1.50.

£2?

If you take 20?

Yep, 20 large for £2.

-I could do that, yep.

-Great.

Smooth negotiating.

Now they've got £10 left,

and they're after a great deal on the big bags of top popcorn -

the toffee, apple and cinnamon flavour.

Considering we have bought a lot from you, the least you can do

is give us a decent price and I think £1 is the best price.

I REALLY can't go anywhere near £1.

-You're a long, long way off on the price of those.

-£1.50.

I can't, I just can't go any lower. £1.50 is so low.

We're very clear on our prices and £1.50 is a good price.

The best I can do on that one would be £2 per bag,

and I can give you some sampling stock for free included.

OK, yep, we're happy with that.

The girls have really improved their negotiation skills.

They've taken on the feedback

and their performance has been outstanding.

130, 140,

-150.

-Perfect, thank you very much.

-Nice doing business with you guys.

-Pleasure doing business with you.

For their £150, Determination have got 55 large

bags of popcorn and 40 small ones.

Their three flavours are white chocolate, salted caramel

and their favourite - toffee, apple and cinnamon flavour.

For their £150, Top Dogs have only got 43 large bags,

but they've got 55 small bags.

Like the girls, they got salted caramel

and toffee, apple and cinnamon.

But they also got honey and hazelnut,

Belgian chocolate, soy and sesame,

goat's cheese and black pepper

and pepper and chilli.

The boys have got more flavours but the girls have got more popcorn.

Tomorrow, one team will pop to the top and straight to the USA.

For the other, they'll pop off home.

Today the competition explodes, as it's semifinals time.

Each team is ready to give it their all, as whoever wins here today,

goes through to the grand final in the USA.

Good Morning, Top Dogs. Good Morning, Determination.

Soon thousands of people will be heading to Greenwich Market.

You have just two hours to sell them your gourmet popcorn.

The team that makes the most money

will win themselves a place in the grand final,

and only they stand a change of becoming

Britain's best young traders.

The stakes are high, so do your best.

Are you ready?

-TEAMS: Yes!

-Let's set up the stalls!

There's no turning back now.

The sell is minutes away and nerves are setting in.

You need to be enthusiastic, basically, OK?

These are the important things that can get us to the final, OK?

-No, do it in the middle.

-No. All right, yeah.

Presentation is key but we can't take too long on presentation.

Archie, call everyone madam and sir and everything.

Jasmine and Chloe, what's your pricing?

Big one's £4, small one's £3.

Semifinal, it's all up to you.

Top Dogs, what's your strategy?

£4 for a big bag, £2.50 for a small one.

OK. It's the semifinals, come on, let's go.

-Are we done?

-Yeah.

-OK.

The stage is set. Let the popcorn battle begin.

Teams, it's the semifinals, are you ready?

-TEAMS: Yes!

-Three, two, one...start selling!

Moments in and the boys free samples are drawing a crowd.

You're right, that is nice.

Can you do six for £20?

Top Dogs have just been offered £20 for six packets,

and within seconds of opening, they've agreed to that sale.

Yeah, OK. Thank you very much.

Great work Top Dogs, but can they keep up this pace?

-And we've also got some really, really weird flavours.

-Like?

Starts with a caramel taste and then eight seconds later, you get chilli

so you don't just get it all at once. It's really amazing.

-Those two.

-OK, so that's £5.

Brilliant. Well done, guys.

Archie's turned into a world expert on popcorn.

But how are the girls?

Bye!

Hello, would you like to try popcorn?

Oh, dear.

People are eating popcorn, but there's not much buying going on.

Thank you.

People who have tasted them keep coming back to taste more

and not buying any, which is kind of a downfall.

Jasmine and Chloe, look, you've got two hours to sell

that's nearly gone. What are you going to do when that's gone?

-Have no testers.

-You've got no testers.

If you don't have testers, you won't sell.

When someone is tasting that product,

you don't just stand there watching their mouth.

You have to sell to them. I've given you the best tips I can.

Hello, would you like to try some delicious popcorn?

This isn't anything like any normal popcorn, though.

-No? OK.

-It's not too sweet.

Do you like popcorn now?

I like that popcorn.

-Would you like to buy some?

-Yeah, OK.

That London charm is paying off -

convincing someone who doesn't even like popcorn to buy a bag.

That popcorn patter keeps pulling in the punters.

Thank you, here you go.

The boys and their wide variety of flavours are reeling in anyone

who will listen.

We have goat's cheese and black pepper.

But I'm not sure I want goat's cheese and black pepper in popcorn.

-But that's revolutionary, miss.

-You're very persuasive.

-We have chocolate.

-Oh, right!

We only have the chocolate in the big bags.

Oh...oh!

-Shall we have a big bag of chocolate?

-Yeah, go on then.

Thank you.

Now that's what I call a salesman! Well done.

At the girls', Alice is taking popcorn to the people.

Hello, madam, can I interest you in some very delicious popcorn?

Can I just explain the popcorn to you?

Cos you look like you're a popcorn enthusiast like me.

OK, the amazing thing about this popcorn is it's like

you're in a movie. You start with one flavour, you hit another flavour

and then after about eight seconds, you hit the final flavour.

So which one you going to pick?

I'm not going to buy it.

Oh, you don't want to buy any?

-No.

-OK, have a lovely day.

-You, too.

Would you like me to explain the popcorn to you? OK.

Alice is an excellent saleswoman, but she's really got to use

her testers and she's got to lure people in.

It's starts at one flavour, goes to another,

-then it hits the final flavour.

-Alice, what's the number one tip

you learnt yesterday about selling popcorn?

Um, to give people testers?

-OK, I think I'm going to try that, but with the tray.

-Good luck.

So, will the perfect pitch now with tasters make the difference?

So what do you taste?

Toffee, popcorn and nut.

Would you think about buying some?

I promise you, you will not regret it.

So that is £1 change for you.

Alice has just made a sale - fantastic!

-Have a lovely day.

-Thank you!

Both teams have got a great sales patter.

But they've also got a lot of stock to shift.

Thank you very much.

With the clock running out,

Jamie goes to check out whether the girls are doing better.

-What's that one?

-This is the toffee, apple, cinnamon.

-Hi, Jamie.

-Hi, guys.

-Would you like to go away?

Would you like to buy some toffee, apple and cinnamon?

-Can I have a taster first before...?

-No, sorry.

-Right.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

He saw our prices.

The girls lower prices for the small bags has given Jamie

food for thought.

It's made me think about the strategy a wee bit,

but I'll have to discuss it with the team members.

OK, Top Dogs.

You got 20 minutes left, OK?

How many packets of popcorn have you got to sell in 20 minutes?

Just over two a minute.

Do you think you can sell two a minute?

-Yes, we can.

-At this price?

-Yes.

I'm going to follow you around for a minute, see if you can sell

two packets. Come on, let's go.

Madam, would you like to buy some gourmet popcorn?

Would you like to buy some gourmet popcorn, sir?

-I'm OK, really.

-A taster?

If you've got 20 minutes left to sell 44 packets of popcorn,

my biggest thing would be a bargain deal.

And let's see how many you can shift that way.

Both teams must keep an eye on today's prize -

a place in our USA final.

No-one can afford to miss a trick.

Can I interest you in a bag of very delicious popcorn?

Girls, what are you going to do with your pricing?

Keep it the same cos no-one is moaning about the price.

This is now about how much money you have in your box

at the end of this competition.

The only thing stopping you get to America right now is this

number of packets of popcorn.

Alice, go get 'em, girl.

With the stakes this high, Determination slash their prices.

The popcorn costs £3 for a large bag and £2 for a small bag.

Can I have a bag of sea salt and caramel?

-OK, that will be £3, thank you.

-How much is it?

£3, please.

And the boys soon follow suit.

-It's how much you make.

-Dropping it down to £2.50.

-£2.50.

Gourmet popcorn. Was £4, now £2.50.

-That's £2.50.

-There you go.

-Thank you so much.

-How much are you selling if for then?

-Whatever they'll pay.

Both teams have got to think about one thing only.

Get rid of the stock.

Large bag for £2.

-Thank you, have a lovely day.

-Thank you.

And with minutes to go, both teams ditch their pricing strategies

altogether and take whatever they can.

I offloaded just a handful, that's fantastic.

Hello, would you like to buy our popcorn for 50p each?

50p sounds good, thank you very much, madam.

£1 for this massive bag and it will last you a whole day long.

-Thank you.

-Everything must go.

All this for £2!

America is in all their sights.

These are 50p.

-You have one minute left to get rid of all your popcorn.

-OK.

50p! It cost us £1!

-Would you like to buy this for 10p?

-Come on, people!

How much would you like for the whole stock?

-A fiver.

-Five for the whole...OK, five for the whole stock.

-Five for the whole stock?

-Yeah.

-Ten, nine, eight...

-For the whole stock.

-..seven...

-Sold out!

Everything on this table. Just... You can take free tasters.

-Here you go.

-Good luck.

-Bye.

..two, one...

Stop selling!

-Top Dogs, can I have your cash tin?

-There you go.

-Good luck.

TEAM: Thank you.

Well done, guys!

Can I have your cash tin?

Good luck.

Oooh, I'm so scared!

It's either onwards or over.

I guess it's going to be really close.

Both teams have sold their hearts out.

But there can only be one winner.

Is it Determination or Top Dogs

who have made the most cash and will be flying to the USA

to compete in the Trade Your Way grand final?

I've been watching both teams very closely for the last two days

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

Over 2,000 young traders applied to be in your shoes.

Only four teams made it through.

But only one team can win,

and they will be going to the USA grand final

and have a chance of being crowned Britain's best young traders.

Your challenge was to make as much money as possible

selling gourmet popcorn to the shoppers at Greenwich market.

The cash has been counted and I have to tell you this.

It was very, very close.

Determination, you took...

Top Dogs, you took...

Congratulations,

you are today's winners!

And you will be going to the grand final in the USA.

ALL: Well done.

Girls, commiserations, you were amazing,

amazing competition.

Well done.

I can't believe it!

We're going to America!

They're a very, very strong team,

but we knew we were going to the final.

They deserve it more than anyone else. They really deserve it.

So, Scotland's Top Dogs - Archie, Alexander and Jamie -

are heading to America.

They've won themselves a place in the Trade Your Way To The USA

grand final.

In business, you need to build on your success and in order to

do that, you must take on board feedback and then act on it.

And that's exactly what our winning team did today.

And it's 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 second semifinal.

We got some red noses, I think.

Love me bowtie.

-They're very nice.

-Oh!

-I don't think it's going well, to be honest.

-Do you have a squirty flower?

-Here, look.

HE LAUGHS

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