UK: Cultivating Retail Shaping up

Channel 4 news presenter Cathy Newman will be hosting Cultivating Retail, the new one-day event for retailers, suppliers and growers which takes place on Tuesday 13 November 2018 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. The new conference and dinner, jointly hosted by HTA and GIMA, promises to be a must attend event of the year for the garden retail supply chain – tackling key issues and opportunities that the industry faces.

The conference themes throughout the day cover four key areas, all aimed to help inspire and grow your business.

Know your Customer – the latest updates on consumer behaviour, shopping psychology and understanding your customer
Business Inspiration – ideas and innovation from inside and outside the industry
Optimising the retailer/supplier relationship - is your supply chain millennial ready? Learnings from other industries, and the Head to Head panel, chaired by Cathy Newman – identifying challenges and opportunities from both the retail and supply side.
Selling Yourself – innovative and experiential retail, the art of visual merchandising and the difference it makes, future technology – mobile advertising and brand strategy.

An industry panel consisting of representatives from grower, retailer and supplier businesses is shaping the programme. This steering group includes Boyd Douglas-Davies (Hillview Group), Neil Grant (Ferndale Garden Centre), Caroline Owen (Scotsdales Garden Centre), Brett Avery (Farplants), Richard Pyrah (Kelkay), Mark Butler (Vitax), Chris Ramsden (Hozelock) along with HTA and GIMA representatives.

The last steering group meeting was hosted by Alan Roper, MD of Blue Diamond Group at the new East Bridgford Garden Centre near Nottingham. Alan will be speaking at Cultivating Retail about his latest ventures and how his approach to experiential retailing is helping to bring the customers in, and also taking part in a retailer/supplier panel session.

Futurist Simon Gosling from Unruly will be speaking about future technology trends including mobile advertising. Advertising was once one-way storytelling, which we observed. With recent tech trends, it has become two-way story-sharing and immersive. Is your Brand Strategy aligned to this next wave of marketing and the behavioural changes of your consumers?

Cultivating Retail takes place at the East Midlands Conference Centre set within the beautifully landscaped parkland of Nottingham University’s campus. This purpose built venue, complete with auditorium, is adjacent to the Orchard Hotel. Built in 2012 this eco-friendly hotel has been awarded a BREEAM rating of excellent and using the latest technology to reduce carbon emissions benefits from plenty of daylight.

For further information and to book your place now at www.hta.org.uk/cultivatingretail

The HTA and GIMA member rate is £295 + VAT for the conference, dinner and accommodation.

Sponsors signed up include: Ascential Events, Citation, Dura-ID, MorePeople, Stihl. For information about sponsorship opportunities at the event please contact Tim Bell, HTA Commercial Manager on 07808 775177 or email tim.bell@hta.org.uk or Vicky Nuttall, GIMA Director on 07766 135060 or vicky.nuttall@gima.org.uk