+70% Conversion Rate Over 12 Months — Notcutts · Redleaf Digital
Ecommerce Growth Leadership · DTC & B2B · Full Time, Part Time & Interim
Case StudiesConversion Rate
Conversion Rate · UX · Ecommerce Transformation

+70% Conversion
Rate Over
12 Months

A fundamental overhaul of Notcutts' ecommerce proposition — from website functionality and trust signals through to in-store stock availability online — delivered a 70% year-on-year conversion rate improvement across 12 months.

Client: Notcutts · Sector: Garden Retail · Type: Interim
+70%Conversion Rate YOYSustained over 12-month period
100%In-Store Stock OnlineFull range unlocked as ecommerce pillar
1897FoundedOne of UK's most established garden retailers

About Notcutts

Notcutts is a well-established UK-based garden centre retailer, specialising in a wide range of garden products, plants, home and lifestyle items and outdoor furniture. Founded in 1897, the company has a long history of serving gardening enthusiasts and homeowners across the UK.

Achieving a 70% year-on-year increase in conversion rate over 12 months is no small feat. This result was delivered following early discussions around Notcutts' commercial ambitions and the role ecommerce needed to play in future growth — the impact of which is clearly visible in their analytics year on year.

The Challenge

A Fundamentally Limiting Ecommerce Setup

To unlock sustainable online sales growth, it became clear that a fundamental shift was needed in how the website was managed and how the overall ecommerce proposition was structured. The existing setup was actively limiting performance across multiple dimensions:

Website functionality was clunky and restrictive. Key trust and conversion features — including product reviews — were missing entirely. Backend operations were already running at full capacity, with stock visibility, order tracking and customer support processes stretched and inefficient.

Limited investment in external partners and specialist support meant several clear growth opportunities had remained untapped. The business needed a structured plan, not incremental fixes.

A Board-Level Ecommerce Improvement Plan

Following a detailed review, a clear ecommerce improvement plan was developed and presented to the board — addressing the on-site experience, technology investment, and a significant commercial opportunity that had been overlooked.

01
On-Site Shopping Experience

Overhauled the website experience — improving product presentation, removing key friction points, and introducing trust signals and conversion triggers including product reviews and social proof.

02
New MarTech Investment

Invested in specialist tools and external partners to close the gaps that internal resource alone couldn't address — improving analytics, CRM segmentation and site performance.

03
100% In-Store Stock Online

Identified a major commercial opportunity: making the full in-store range available online. Defined the commercial model, delivery pricing and customer charges — then positioned this as a core pillar of the ecommerce growth strategy.

04
CRM & Acquisition Improvement

Upgraded CRM segmentation and targeting for more relevant communications. Increased qualified traffic through investment in new acquisition channels alongside the UX and conversion improvements.

Notcutts MarTech improvements and conversion rate chart 2014-15
The Implementation — Tools & Results MarTech stack introduced (SLI Systems, Feefo, Google Certified Shop, Webgains, PayPal, Amazon) alongside the conversion rate chart showing 70% YOY improvement from July 2015.

+70% Conversion Rate — Sustained Over 12 Months

+70%
Conversion Rate YOY

A 70% year-on-year improvement in conversion rate — delivered through a combination of UX improvements, trust signal introduction, product content enhancement and friction removal across the full customer journey.

Notcutts budget recovery waterfall chart showing revenue uplift by initiative
Revenue Recovery by Initiative Waterfall chart mapping the incremental revenue contribution of each initiative — from site improvements (£66K) through mobile, missed sales recovery, organic growth, new ranges to affiliates (£200K projected). Total budget recovery against £1.595M target.
Qualified Traffic Growth

Investment in new acquisition channels increased the volume of high-intent visitors — ensuring the conversion improvements translated directly into incremental online revenue rather than simply converting a larger share of the same traffic.

100%
In-Store Range Available Online

Making the full in-store inventory available online — a common challenge for multi-site garden retailers selling larger or bulkier items — became a core commercial growth driver, unlocking a significant new revenue stream.

CRM, Content & Operational Improvements

Upgraded CRM segmentation and targeting, improved product content and presentation, and restructured operations to support increased scale and service levels — building a foundation for sustainable long-term growth.

Notcutts Google Analytics — Sessions, Users, Page Views YOY
Traffic & Engagement Performance — Feb 2015 to Feb 2016 Sessions +14.21% (2.3M vs 2M) · Users +6.81% · Page Views +23.59% · Pages/Session +8.21% · Bounce Rate improved −5.38%. 58.8% new visitors vs 41.4% returning.
Notcutts Google Analytics — Ecommerce conversion rate, transactions, revenue YOY
Ecommerce Performance — The Numbers Behind the 70% Uplift Conversion Rate +69.13% (1.10% vs 0.65%) · Transactions +93.17% (25,591 vs 13,248) · Revenue +43.63% (£1.597M vs £1.112M) · Unique Purchases +78.55% · Quantity +84.17%.
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