Marketing for garden centres is changing fast. In this Glee 2025 episode of The Underground, Phil Wright and Kate Turner sit down with two specialists to explore how loyalty data and paid media can work together to drive footfall, sales and long-term customer value in the home and garden sector.

First up, Vanessa Cranford from Spring Marketing explains why garden centre loyalty schemes should be treated as profit engines, not cost centres. Drawing on two decades of experience and data from over 100 UK sites, she shows how EPOS-linked loyalty programmes can lift average transaction value by around 50%, increase visit frequency and turn your best customers into brand advocates, all while giving you clearer visibility of churn and customer lifetime value.

Then, Aaron Rudman-Hawkins from The Evergreen Agency joins Phil to demystify paid search and paid social for home and garden brands. He breaks down when ads work (and when they don’t), why average order value and lifetime value matter so much, and how to think about budgets by working backwards from revenue goals . He also shares how localised search and smart retargeting can help garden centres “win the postcode and win the weekend”.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why loyalty should sit at the heart of your marketing communications, not off to one side
• How EPOS-integrated loyalty schemes reveal who your high-value “protect at all cost” customers really are
• Practical examples of using purchase data to upsell, cross-sell and drive repeat visits (from roses to hot drink cards)
• Common myths about older customers and apps, and how to get teams excited about scanning cards and using data
• The difference between search and social, and how to use both to capture intent and nudge customers back in-store
• Why lower-ticket products can struggle with ads, and how repeat purchase or premium ranges can change the equation

Whether you’re running a single site or a multi-centre group, this episode is packed with practical, data-driven ideas to modernise your marketing, make better use of the customers you already have, and turn “just another loyalty card” into a real competitive advantage.

Spring Marketing: http://springmarketing.co.uk/

The Evergreen Agency: http://theevergreenagency.co.uk/