Growing with Purpose: Inside Hillier’s Horticultural Legacy and Tech-Forward Future
MorePeople Podcast Recap with Chris Francis, Retail and Wholesale Director, Hillier
The MorePeople Podcast recently sat down with Chris Francis, the Retail and Wholesale Director at Hillier, to explore the remarkable journey of this iconic horticultural business and how it’s combining tradition with innovation to lead the sector.
A Legacy of Growing
Founded in 1864, Hillier is more than just a garden centre chain. With over 160 years of heritage, it's a deeply rooted family of businesses comprising three key areas:
Amenity Division: The largest grower of semi-mature trees in Europe, Hillier has supplied projects like the Olympic Park and Scottish Parliament with fully grown specimens.
Wholesale Nursery: Previously a supplier to competing garden centres, this arm now grows over one million plants annually, exclusively for Hillier’s own centres.
Retail Garden Centres: With 22 locations across the South of England, Hillier’s garden centres are the public-facing side of a vast horticultural operation.
Chris describes the scale of operations as “mind-bending”, not just in the number of plants, but in the infrastructure needed to grow, maintain, and distribute them. Think "plant factory" rather than tranquil greenhouse.
From Retail to Roots
Interestingly, Chris didn’t start in horticulture. A long-time retailer with stints at John Lewis and Boots, he eventually found his way into the garden centre world. A return to horticulture wasn’t just a career move, it was a reconnection with family roots. His father, he discovered later in life, was a nurseryman himself.
“It must be in the blood somewhere,” Chris says, reflecting on how his retail expertise met a rekindled passion for plants.
A Record of Excellence
Hillier also boasts a world-record 74 consecutive gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, a streak that Chris helped uphold during his five-year tenure leading the company’s participation.
The standard of quality that defines Chelsea runs through everything Hillier does, even at scale. “The centres can refuse any stock that doesn’t meet our standards,” Chris notes, illustrating a steadfast commitment to excellence.
Technology in Bloom
When people think of tech in horticulture, their minds often leap to robotic arms picking strawberries. But for Hillier, innovation is more about efficiency and enabling people to do what they do best: serve and advise customers.
RFID over Barcodes: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is poised to revolutionise inventory management. From receiving to stocktakes to checkout, RFID eliminates the need for manual scanning, increasing speed and accuracy.
AI-Driven Ordering: Centralised systems and AI are beginning to handle stock forecasting, predicting demand and managing replenishment automatically.
Customer-Facing Focus: By removing mundane tasks, technology frees up staff to spend more time where they add the most value: on the shop floor helping customers.
“You repurpose people back into customer-facing roles,” Chris says. “That’s where they increase sales and deliver real service.”
The Human Touch
Despite embracing new tech, Chris is clear: Hillier remains a people-first business. Garden centres are social environments. Shoppers want advice on what to grow, where, and how. Technology enhances that experience; it doesn’t replace it.
The takeaway? In a world of automation, human interaction is still the secret ingredient to great customer service and great sales.
