Should a garden centre x promote supplier brands, should the retailers brand be more prominent than the suppliers brand or should retailers be moving into private or own brands, these are all issues that face the industry and will be discussed at the Four Oaks seminars this year.

In general retailing, we are all aware of the competition in branding between the major supermarkets to get a share of the consumers mind, but the same is taking place in the garden industry.

According to the latest research in the UK by AC Nielsen 41.5% of food and drink purchases in the UK are own brand purchases and this provides a strong argument for retailers to look at home brand strategies If nothing else this indicates that suppliers and retailers must work close together to ensure that they work as partners to offer the consumer the best package possible to grow sales.

The first question to ask is what is a brand and then how do you maximize its potential. It is more than a label and that is often a mistake many businesses make. Take the Starbucks brand for example. When the consumer talks about the brand they discuss the aroma of the coffee, the comfortable seats, the ambience of the room, the music being played, they may not even mention the coffee itself!

In today's consumers mind the brand is made up of what they see, what they touch, what they smell, what they hear and what they taste. This offers huge opportunities for the garden industry; alas many businesses in our industry fail to provide the correct brand experience for their consumers.

This is an exciting period in the garden sector of retailing. We have a consumer who is looking for a brand enriching experience and if we provide it they will build a relationship with the brand.

Putting a brand label on a plant or container is not branding in my opinion it's a marketing exercise that may or may not produce results. But, if we really branded our products in a partnership, WOW, we would have some exciting results.

Are you ready to be challenged and have some of your thinking questioned? Would you like to know how Banyula Garden Centre in Australia turned a 19% loss in sales a year to a 45% growth by rebranding, then the BRAND IT sessions at Four Oaks are an essential part of your visit in 2006. But get there early as experience in the past has shown seats fill up quickly.