STEVENS, Pa., June 26 (UPI) -- U.S. shoppers turn first for their outdoor living needs to big-box home centers, such as Home Depot and Lowe's, a new study from Unity Marketing has found.
"With sales of $65.8 billion in 2004, the $43.2 billion outdoor living market for goods and the $22.6 billion market for services is huge and growing rapidly," said Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of "Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses -- as Well as the Classes."
The big-box stores have improved quality and diversity of garden plants, trained their staffs better, and offer a wide selection of high quality, good value garden tools and outdoor living decoratives and accessories, Danziger said.
The report said garden centers retained their market share leadership in overall sales of garden goods and services in 2004, with a 43 percent market share in outdoor living goods as compared with 32 percent market share among the big-box home center stores.
However, when shoppers were asked where they made outdoor living purchases in the past year, some 80 percent reported shopping for plants at big-box stores, as compared with only 52 percent who bought plants in garden centers.
