Established 160 years ago as a small flower shop in Winchester, Hillier remains a family business to this day, with the fifth generation actively involved in growing and selling the very best quality plants for gardening enthusiasts and major landscaping projects alike.
Each year Hillier grows around one million plants at its nurseries, plus around 750,000 British-grown trees at its field and container tree nurseries in Hampshire. As the largest semi-mature tree grower in the UK, the company has supplied trees for major projects including the Millennium Dome, the new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, and the regeneration of the Olympic Parklands in 2012.
Hillier is also proud to hold the world record for medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – 74 consecutive medals as of 2019 – and continues to invest in research and development while growing the business out to more locations.
Transformed to expand.
Managing Director Chris Francis acknowledges that the last decade has been a period of significant transformation and continuous growth. “When I joined Hillier ten years ago, the company was breaking even on bottom-line profit, running a slightly disorganised group of 12 garden centres. Over the last ten years, we have tripled the turnover, redeveloped a number of the original sites, added ten more garden centres and an ecommerce channel, while profoundly restructuring the business.”
Although he himself drove the changes, he insists that the overall business improvement must be credited to the whole team. “I put together a team of people who are the best at what they do, and then challenge them to deliver the targets we set. We have outstanding individuals as heads of departments, and between us all we have changed the company quite dramatically.”
“Creating a structure with the right people makes it very rewarding when you see people flourish and deliver great results, pulling together in an environment that allows them to thrive. We are now a very different, very profitable business. We have put solid foundations in place to allow us to take the right steps to move forward and continue to grow the business.”
The restructuring included the way in which the Hillier container plant nursery operates. While in the past, they were supplying to independent garden centres across the UK, now their output goes solely to Hillier Garden Centre locations. “Supplying only ourselves has given us a unique point of difference,” says Francis.
“We are generally regarded as a higher-end brand within the industry, so having our own range of absolutely top-quality plants helps us to achieve that position. This is an important point in a sector where differentiation can be difficult to achieve.”
He further highlights the importance of Hillier remaining a family business. “Everybody knows the family and the family is actively involved throughout the business. The family culture is very strong, even though we have tripled the size of the company. That family ethos, which extends to our customers, continues to make sure our business is really grounded.”
The green concept
Although most of Hillier’s turnover is generated by the garden centres, the nurseries as well as the amenity division that supplies local authorities and large landscape projects are just as important.
Francis recalls that just before the pandemic, Hillier took the opportunity to acquire five garden centres. Despite initial concerns, they successfully survived the challenging times, as people in lockdown re-discovered the joy of gardening.
After the pandemic, more acquisitions followed. Only 18 months ago Hillier completed its most recent acquisition of Rosebourne, a group of boutique destination garden centres across three sites, which expanded the number of Hillier Garden Centres to 22.
Investment is also being made in redeveloping the existing facilities. Recently the company unveiled its newly redeveloped Hillier Garden Centre Newbury, showcasing new products, plants, tools, and gifts. Newbury is also one of the first Hillier Garden Centres to be home to the newly introduced Hillier Rosebourne Food Hall, which is planned to be rolled out across the entire group.
Francis reflects that today garden centres sit somewhere between leisure and retail. “A lot of people will come to a garden centre for a day out, take time to walk around and have a cup of coffee or lunch. They will ultimately head home with something from their visit. Unlike in the past, when a garden centre visit was planned with a clear purpose, today’s customers tend to buy whatever is looking great in front of them. Plants have to look at their best and have to be in flower.”
Francis admits that Hillier growth is helped by their specific customer base which tends to be a more mature, reasonably affluent group of individuals. “They’ll be cautious, but they will spend on their garden as it is important to them. They are also more demanding customers, wanting quality and good value. This means that we have to work very hard to satisfy their needs.”
Poised for sustainable growth.
Hillier runs an apprenticeship scheme as well as a management training programme to enhance the customer experience. “Customer service and customer experience are absolutely vital in a garden centre. It is through our people that we differentiate ourselves in an increasingly competitive retail world. We are renowned for our plant advice, which is one of our unique selling points. Our people work very hard, and we are investing in new technologies to make their lives on the floor easier,” says Francis.
Sustainability and environmental initiatives were a priority for Hillier long before they became more widely important, he further affirms. “We try to source as much as possible locally. We were also the first commercial nursery to move all production to a kerbside recyclable pot. We have been working hard on improving our environmental credentials, running an integrated crop management system in our nurseries, where biological control is the first point of defence, with chemicals being used only as a last resort. Five years ago, Hillier also moved to peat-free production, ahead of most of the industry.”
In concluding, he reflects that while the company is in consolidation mode at the moment, further expansion is always on the agenda. “We are an acquisitive business. If the right opportunity comes along, such as the recent Rosebourne case, we will be ready to grasp that opportunity.”
