Increased Home Outdoor Living Investments & Gardening Activity Expected to Extend into 2021

One of the biggest impacts of the pandemic in 2020 was the increased amount of time people spent in their yards. Not only was there was a huge jump in the number of people exploring home gardening, but they also spruced up their yards by investing in new decks and outdoor living areas. According to The Freedonia Group’s National Online Consumer Survey, which was in the field from mid-November to early December:

• 39% of respondents indicated that they were spending more time on projects for their home’s outdoor spaces because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• 26% indicated that they had planted a food garden because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Overall, 44% indicated that they maintained a food garden in beds, pots, or containers at home, in community gardens, or a friend or family member’s yard.
• 26% of respondents purchased power or hand tools to use in their yard or garden.

This focus on outdoor living is expected to rise even higher in 2021. In the same survey by The Freedonia Group, 65% of respondents who were employed full or part time were set up to do at least some of their work from home, and more than half of those respondents were working from home more than they had previously because of the pandemic. In light of many companies amending their work policies to allow more frequent work from home even beyond the pandemic, consumers expect to maintain their outdoor leisure and home nesting activities at elevated levels for the near term at least.

As a result, lawn and garden product suppliers are looking to position themselves to make the most of the opportunity. For example, CRH’s Oldcastle APG unit – a supplier of landscaping and gardening products such as pavers, composite decking, bagged concrete, masonry supplies, mulch, soil, and potting mixes – recently bought CST, a regional producer of bagged mulches and soils in the Midwest.

For more information and a discussion of market opportunities, see The Freedonia Group’s extensive collection of off-the-shelf research related to the lawn and garden industry, including Lawn & Garden Consumer Insights: The Home Gardener, Lawn & Garden Consumables, Lawn & Garden Seeds, Lawn & Garden Fertilizers, Home & Garden Insecticides, Home & Garden Pesticides, Lawn & Garden Mulch, Lawn & Garden Growing Media, Global Power Lawn & Garden Equipment, Lawn & Garden Robots, and Lawn & Garden Watering Products (an update of US Power Lawn & Garden Equipment is coming soon). Our sister published Packaged Facts has also recently released a report titled Home Food Gardening: US Market Trends & Opportunities. Freedonia Custom Research is also available for questions requiring tailored market intelligence.