TK Maxx has unveiled its spring television advertising campaign which breaks with tradition and lets shoppers into the closely-guarded secret, that the chain deals directly with designers rather than just sourcing old season stock.

The ads explore how TK Maxx sources its product and follow its buyers as they research the latest trends and hold meetings with designers to strike deals to buy product for TK Maxx for “the best prices”. The buyers portray themselves as “adoring fashion”, up on the latest trends and hungry for deals.

TK Maxx said it had devised the different-style ads after customer research indicated its shoppers were not aware that it employed a team of buyers, or that it carried current season collections. A spokeswoman for the company said: “There are two big myths about our business - that we don’t have buyers and that we are getting random stock from random places and secondly that everything [in-store] must be past season.”

“The ads are designed to show customers we have buyers who have ongoing relationships with designers to get them [shoppers] the best deals,” she added.

TK Maxx said the ads were not intended to promote the fact it does make-to-order deals direct with brands.

TK Maxx has seen its sales stutter in the UK of late and blamed “unfocused buying” for a 52% collapse in profits last year. It has since made several hires to strengthen its product team.