The garden craze
The confinements related to the health crisis have prompted the French to look after their gardens, or at the very least, their exteriors. There are 13 million gardens in the country, plus 7 million balconies and terraces.
The spread of telecommuting has accentuated the need for greenery. As soon as the first lockdown was lifted, the French flocked to specialist stores.
The trend continued in 2021, with sales reaching €9 billion and growing by 14%. By 2022, the garden market had suffered frominflationthe resumption of hitherto inaccessible activities such as travel, and the fading of urban exodus.
In 2023, in addition to inflation, drought has begun to preoccupy the French. Some buyers are increasingly aware of the need to combine plants so that they help each other, cover the soil to retain water better and require less. Buyers are well-informed and demanding. This affects the way they buy and the range of products they offer.
The great gardeners
The gardening market is still dominated by a few major players major players operating on a franchise and by mass distribution. The main specialist brands in France are Jardiland, Truffaut and Gamm'vert.
Gamm'vert is far ahead of its competitors, especially if we include Jardiland, which it has bought out. What we're witnessing here is a veritable phenomenon of concentration by three giants, namely InVivo (Jardiland and Gamm'vert, Truffaut and Botanic.
The outlook
The euphoria of 2021 is over. Garden market sales are back in line, but a profound profound transformation is underway. The figures have gone from green to red, and 2023 shows a trend of -15%. We must remain optimistic, patient and smart. More than a third of French people would like to spend more time in a garden or green environment in the future. There is also a clear clear trend towards younger buyers. Ecological and eco-responsible ecological and eco-responsible imperatives is a must for this emerging clientele.
We need to think differently about our gardens, offering more resistant plants, solutions to prevent water evaporation, better mulching and more economical watering. Everything the garden center market has to offer.
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