Keynote speaker Andrew MacMillan )right), who spent 28 years with the John Lewis Partnership, offered insights into how JL have developed a branded customer experience.

“It needs to be a great place to work and a great place to shop” he said. “You need to start inside and then work out as the customer experience becomes an extension of the staff experience. Using freedom within a framework, staff are encouraged to ‘do what they think is right’ and each branch has the opportunity to do something out of the ordinary to help a customer once a month. These random acts of kindness are shared internally and celebrated – helping them to become part of everyday activity.”

Briers MD Jackie Eades (left) shared with HTA delegates how she had re-branded and brought high street fashion trends into garden retail. She used eye tracker and EFSA research to find out more about customer’s shopping behaviour and the latest retail trends, before revamped the Briers brand strategy to create six new ranges including Function and Fun (children’s range) and Function and Tradition (Historic Royal Palaces Collection).

Simple steps to talking to customers in a fresh way were provided by William Sinclair marketing director Simon McCardle. Using HTA consumer segmentation research he focussed on the ‘newbies’ (time and cash poor 28-40 year olds for whom the garden is low on their priority list). They want a lovely garden to enjoy, relax and play in but they see gardening as outdoor housework, with the lawnmower the equivalent of the Hoover. They need ‘fool-proof’ products that can’t fail along with an easy to shop experience, inspiration along with reassurance, knowledge and value.

This provided a neat link to Love the Plot You’ve Got, the industry wide campaign which starts in 2015, aimed at the same audience. Project manager David Arnold (top, left) said the proposed roadshow would take garden inspiration out to non-garden events across the country.