In the unusual Corona year that was 2020, the garden industry saw its highest turnover ever. The annual turnover came to 1.95 billion euros, more than 19% higher than that of 2019 based on the Tuinmonitor of Tuinbranche Nederland, compiled by GfK.
Favorable spring weather and travel restrictions were more influenctial than the restrictive measures for shoppers. "We were very happy with this, especially given the turnover losses in other industries. However, that turnover unfortunately evaporated in the first few months of this year because we were virtually closed from December 15 to mid-March," says Brenda Horstra, deputy director of Tuinbranche Nederland.
After bicycle stores and hardware stores, the garden branch had the strongest turnover increase. In 2018 and 2019, turnover also grew significantly. Last year, the spring period pushed sales to record highes. Dry, sunny spring weather and Corona-related travel restrictions resulted in strong investment in garden supplies. Physical stores played a prominent role. Then, sales came to a virtual standstill from December 15, 2020 onwards, due to store closures during the 'hard lockdown'. Horstra: "The figures for 2020 have no predictive value for 2021. The very limited sales (-75 to -90% compared to normal years) achieved with click & collect and partial opening with two customers per store until mid-March, have really sullied the good 2020 numbers."
Substantial 'pluses' everywhere
All product categories showed substantial 'pluses' in garden center sales figures in 2020. Pet products showed a 20% increase in sales and, at over 340 million euros, are the category with the highest share of sales. Also 'non-living' grew fast in sales. The strongest risers were garden furniture (+50% to 111 million euros), barbecues (+52% to over 43 million euros), outdoor pottery (+44% to 56 million euros) and garden sheds and partitions (+36% to 32 million euros). This all emphasizes how people wanted to redesign their gardens into additional green living spaces.
Flowers and plants
In the "living" category, the growth figures were less spectacular, but still substantial. For trees and plants for outdoors, sales amounted to 314 million euros (+16%). This relates to trees and shrubs and perennial plants. Indoor flowers and plants increased by 10% to 170 million euro. Sales of living goods increased considerably, particularly in the spring.
Safe shopping and safe gardening
The garden centers took various measures to enable safe shopping during corona time. The advice was and is to draw up a shopping list beforehand and to make targeted purchases in the store. People want to decorate their homes and gardens conveniently because outdoor activities are limited. The Corona measures led to fewer buyers in the stores, but the customers who did come in, spent higher amounts on average.
Source: Tuinbranche Nederland
Photo: Sprinklr