Summary
• Garden Centre Association members experienced a 10% drop in sales to the end of September.
• Poor weather and the early Easter depressed the market.
• Manufacturers still managed to maintain or increase sales.
• The “improve, not move” trend presents opportunities.
While the rural fencing sector has been relatively unscathed, the economic challenges of 2008 have hit the residential timber landscaping market.
According to the Garden Centre Association’s recent figures, its members experienced a 10% drop in sales to the end of September this year, with the largest garden centres being hit the hardest. This is perhaps unsurprising given the unmitigated turmoil of the global money markets that represent a force well beyond anyone’s control.
Despite rising expectations into the spring, the good weather was intermittent, with no sustained dry period, meaning that there simply was not the opportunity or demand for decking, fencing, accessories and garden structures from DIYers, builders and landscapers. Coupled with an early (and therefore wet and cold) Easter weekend, when most retailers would expect sales to rise in line with the Bank Holiday traditionally reserved for DIY and home improvement, the market entered the summer in a slump.
Buoyant sales
However, as many Glee exhibitors claimed, many manufacturers have had relatively buoyant sales. For example, despite the downturn, Finnforest’s Garden Inspirations range has enjoyed success. Its core decking product, Classic softwood, maintained its popularity, with a 5% increase in sales on 2007’s figure and it introduced a hardwood decking to its portfolio this year which outperformed projections.
A key to success in troubled times has been sales support and the company has introduced a Home Delivery Kiosk. This was trialled throughout the summer with garden centre retailers with no online sales presence in order to support the sale of larger products such as cabins, pergolas and arbours. These ‘silent salesmen’ promoted timber structures with positive feedback on the additional sales of log cabins they helped to generate.
As everyone is all too aware, 2009 is set to be another challenging year. Fuelled by the mounting financial pressures on homeowners, spending will be curtailed with a knock-on effect felt by the garden and landscaping sector. However, there are suggestions that commercially the “improve not move” trend is a way for merchants, DIY and garden retailers to maintain some momentum. With many thousands of people planning to improve their indoor and outdoor space, with recent surveys indicating that an attractive and well-landscaped garden could add up to 18% to the value of a property, the repair, maintain, improve (RMI) market will form a main focus for sales in 2009.
