Reading the signal board as a buyer
Consensus tells you who else will stock it. Attention tells you whether shoppers will ask. Shelf tells you whether the format is proven. The verdict tells you what to do.
The board on this site is built for brands, creators and buyers at once, which means a buyer has to know which columns are theirs.
Consensus is how many separate forecasters have named the trend. For a buyer it answers a different question than it does for a brand: not "is this real" but "who else will stock it." A trend three retailers have called is a trend the chains will carry by spring, and the premium independent's job is to have had it first, or to have the version they will not. One forecaster is a watch.
Attention is reader interest and video views, measured over the last month against the two before. It tells you whether shoppers will walk in asking. Rising attention with nothing on shelf is the clearest signal on the board: talk ahead of product. It is also where a Fad and an early Real look identical, so it is a reason to test one item, not to reset the department.
Press is trade coverage in the last ninety days. It tells you what the sales reps will be talking about. It does not tell you anything about shoppers.
Shelf is how many products we track against the trend and at what stage. Several products at scaling or established means the format is proven and the question is price tier and velocity, not whether anyone will buy it. Only emerging products means the format is still being worked out; buy small, buy the one with the operations in order.
The verdict is the operator's call, with reasoning and a date, and it is the one line written for you. Real: worth building assortment around. Niche: stock it where that shopper is, and do not bet the planogram. Fad: expect velocity to fall before the next reset, so if you bring it in, bring it in as newness with a short window and an exit.
The Buzz Board ranks by talk rather than by forecaster consensus. It is early warning: what shoppers may ask for next month, next to whether any product on shelf is proving it yet. A trend can be loud there and still earn a Fad verdict here. Loud with no products is content for your newsletter, not a PO.
Put the two together and the board becomes a buying calendar: consensus for what the chains will have by spring, attention for what shoppers will ask for next month, shelf for what is ready to order, the verdict for how much to risk. The retailer take on each trend page says what the test is; the pages before this one say how to run it.