Freedonia Market Research Analyzes Lawn Consumables Industry

US demand for packaged lawn and garden consumables, which include fertilizers, pesticides, growing media, seeds, mulch, and other related products, is forecast to increase 4.5 percent per year to $9.3 billion in 2012.  After several years of favorable sales, the lawn and garden industry hit a snag in 2007.  Unfavorable weather patterns (e.g., a cold spring and drought-like conditions in the summer months) throughout much of the US, coupled with rising fuel and energy costs and lowered home values, limited volume demand for lawn and garden consumables.  However, price increases mitigated this impact on market value.  Many of these economic factors continued to plague the industry in 2008.  These and other trends, including market share and product segmentation, are presented in Lawn & Garden Consumables, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm. 

Growth will be led by growing media, fertilizers and mulch, all of which will post above-average gains over the forecast period.  These three segments are benefiting from the expanding consumer trend favoring value-added products such as fast-acting and easy-to-use fertilizers, rubber and colored mulches and premium soils.  Across all product segments, organic formulations will experience more favorable increases than conventional formulations. 

In contrast, sales will be sluggish for pesticides, which made up 30 percent of the market in 2007.  Increasing concern over the environmental and health effects of chemical use will dampen pesticides’ prospects.  Attempts to control lawn maintenance costs, as well as competition from combination products that incorporate pesticides with fertilizers, will further depress gains.

The residential market will account for over three-quarters of total demand in 2012, as the “do-it-yourself,” “do-some-for-me” and “do-it-for-me” segments all post solid gains.  Participation in home gardening activity, including lawn care, steadily increased for most of the 1997-2007 period. Going forward, more individuals will enter what is thought to be peak gardening years -- the over 55-year-old segment -- providing opportunities for lawn and garden consumables.

The Freedonia Group is a leading international business research company, founded in 1985, that publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually. This industry analysis provides an unbiased outlook and a reliable assessment of an industry and includes product segmentation and demand forecasts, industry trends, demand history, threats and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and company profiles.