RM Online - What you need to know about the lawn and garden market

U.S. power lawn and garden equipment shipments are expected to rise 4.2 percent per annum through 2002 to nearly $9 billion. Growth will be fueled by product innovations and upgrades, and driven by new environmental regulations and consumer demand for equipment with increased horsepower, additional safety features and lighter weight. Growth also will be bolstered by favorable demographic trends, such as expansion of the key 45- to 64-year-old segment, which typically trades up to higher end products, or increasingly engages professional lawn care services. A healthy outlook for the golfing industry and rising state and local government spending also will stimulate gains for certain products, such as turf mowers and tractors. These and other trends are presented in Power Lawn & Garden Equipment, a new study from The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm.

Turf and grounds equipment - and turf tractors in particular - will experience above-average gains based on the favorable outlook for professional landscaping services, partially due to rising dual-income levels. Blowers, vacuums and sweepers also will experience growth stimulated by the introduction of combination products, such as blower/vacuums and sweeper/shredders. Garden tractors and riding mowers, which utilize various attachments, also will present opportunities benefitting from the trend toward multifunctional equipment.

Growth within the commercial lawn and garden equipment market will be bolstered by strong replacement demand. The golf course segment will provide the best growth opportunities based on new product innovations such as equipment specifically designed for golf course applications. However, the residential sector will continue to dominate lawn and garden sales, representing nearly 83 percent of the total in 2002. A growing do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement market will result, based on expansion of product offerings by several mass merchandisers and national discounters.

The South will continue to be the largest regional market for power lawn and garden equipment, accounting for more than 30 percent of total demand in 2002, based on its size, extensive consumer market base and favorable climatic conditions. Healthy economic conditions, a growing population and an emerging golf industry will stimulate strong gains in the West.

Power Lawn & Garden Equipment (published November 1998, 252 pages) is available from The Freedonia Group, 767 Beta Drive, Cleveland, OH 44143-2326. For further details, please contact Corinne Gangloff at (440) 684-9600, fax (440) 646-0484 or e-mail: pr@freedoniagroup.com. Full text also is available online through commercial database companies and the <freedoniagroup.com> Web site.