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Sales of gardening products in the UK increased 10 percent in 2009 according to Verdict Research. The “increasingly frugal consumer has driven demand for gardening products”. Verdict Research has found.

Spending on products for the garden rose by 10 percent in 2009, outstripping overall growth in the DIY and gardening sector. Gardening sales were €4.4 billion, while DIY sales were €9.7 billion, down 3.1 percent on 2008. Gardening sales fell 4.1 percent in 2009 to €4 billion. Comparatively, expenditure on non-food products fell by 4.2 percent in 2009; so gardening has bucked the trend. “The impact of recession on the consumer mindset will be lasting fillip to the gardening sub sector,” Verdict retail analyst Joseph Robinson told Horticulture Week. “A heightened austerity is driving a trend towards ‘grow your own’, while the inexpensive nature of gardening as a pastime saw it grown in popularity amongst more frugal consumers. In addition, with more consumers choosing not to holiday abroad in 2009, the garden became an important social venue that merited investment.

“The onset of recession served to compound the weakness in demand for DIY products that was already prevalent thanks to a depressed housing market and a general decline in consumers’ affiliation with do-it-yourself,” says Robinson. “while conditions were tough in DIY, everything fell into place for the gardening market in 2009. In addition to its increasing popularity and the general trends towards ‘grow your own’, favorable weather in spring and early summer, coupled with the recession impacted consumer holidaying at home, made the garden an important social venue, boosting sales,” added Robinson.

An gardening will continue to benefit from positive trends. The analyst says an ageing population profile, rising environmental concerns, the increasing population of garden centres and attempts by DIY superstores to offset the impact of weak DIY categories by focusing more heavily on gardening are positive trends.

He added: “The recession has had a long lasting implication on the consumer psyche. Consumers’ frivolous spending habits have been replaced by a more measured and cautious attitude, with gardening one of the beneficiaries of his heightened austerity. As the aging population takes their spending habits with them, this attitude will remain, which coupled with an increasing concern for the environment, will help drive long term growth in the popularity of gardening and the garden as an extension on the home”

“A trip to the local garden centre is increasingly representing an attractive day-out for British consumers of varying ages, with many garden centres representing much more than merely an outlet for buying plants and furniture for the garden,” says Robinson.

Source Garden World – Showguide edition 2010