Research Reveals Consumer Garden Spending Plans

• Garden centres, B&Q and B&M Bargains are the top shops for everything garden related
• We’ve fallen out of love with lockdown fads – very few plan on buying a pizza oven, fire pit or egg chair
• Aldi’s middle aisle seen as a place for garden bargains
• Most Brits spending less than £50 this year on children’s outdoor toys, as plants top our garden wishlist

The local garden centre, B&Q and B&M Bargains have been named as the top three stores of choice for a wide variety of garden products. This is where two thirds of Brits are planning to spend £250 on their garden in the next month, which is the majority of their planned spend for the entire year. This equates to £6.7bn over the coming weeks.

It is clear we have fallen out of love with lockdown trends as only 7% of those surveyed by consumer intelligence business, Vypr, are looking for an egg chair. While a hot tub, pizza oven and fire pit all also are sought after by less than one in 10 people, which could be a sign of falling out with fads and the cost of living biting.

In terms of what we’re looking for; smaller decorative items such as cushions, lights, candles and picnicware will be mainly purchased by 16% from garden centres, followed closely by B&M (15%) and B&Q was the third choice with 11%.

Larger items such as furniture will be bought online for the majority (17% of Brits); followed by B&Q for 16%; and garden centres for 12% of those surveyed by Vypr.

When asked about the type of furniture that’s on our wish list for the summer, almost a third of people are looking for a basic table and chair set and cost conscious Brits are seeking a smaller sofa set over a large.

Ben Davies, founder of Vypr, commented: “While it’s not surprising that most people choose a garden centre for their plants, followed by B&Q, it is surprising that Aldi is the third most popular place to shop for garden plants. The famous middle aisle was also called out in our research as just over one in five people (21%) said that they would be looking for bargains there.

“While spending on gardens is looking fairly high over the next month, it is with a caveat that most people (77%) will be looking carefully at what they buy and how much they spend. Of those people 40% said they wouldn’t buy anything without fully researching it first and 16% will only buy garden items in a sale. Garden spend is down since the lockdown boom in home and garden improvements. We have heavy inflation plus a cost of living crisis with less available cash so every pound spent is being well researched and considered.”

We’re a green fingered nation with the top choice for topping up the garden this spring being plants, including bulbs and seeds with 40% of those investing outdoors plumping for plants. 58% of those surveyed said that they would spend up to £100 on plants so garden centres, B&Q and Aldi will be cashing in on their spring plants this month now the weather has warmed up.

35% of the UK population see their garden as somewhere private to relax and 18% specifically said that they wanted an attractive environment full of plants and flowers.

This spend isn’t going on children as most people plan to spend less than £50 on paddling pools and outdoor toys . This compares with 28% of people expecting to spend up to £500 on larger garden items such as a BBQ, decking and furniture.

While plants are the most popular choice, accessories such as tubs, cushions and lighting come in second for a third and furniture is being chosen by 22% and tools by 20%.

The research was carried out by Vypr. Its total database of 75,000 consumers was developed for businesses to understand consumer behaviour quickly.

Source : Vypr

Image : Ground Picture / 1062012566 / Shutterstock

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