Power Lawn & Garden Equipment Sales See Boost from Surging DIY Activity Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had varying effects on the nearly $12 billion market for power lawn and garden equipment in the US. While the commercial market took a significant hit in 2020 as nonresidential end users drastically reduced capital investment, consumer sales have grown:

• The pandemic has forced people across the US to stay home, and many have diverted funds from leisure activities to home improvements, including upgrading landscaping and outdoor areas.
• Consumers have simultaneously made purchases of power lawn and garden equipment to complete these tasks.

Spending less time commuting, consumers also have more time for other tasks, like yard maintenance. Yards and gardens are seeing investment as areas that can act as additional living spaces for household members and as safer places to entertain visitors during the pandemic – adding to their intrinsic value.

The spike in DIY lawn and garden activity is expected to linger along with the effects of the pandemic through much of 2021 – but both commercial and consumer sales are expected to return to normal levels, as vaccine distribution ramps up, case numbers drop, and more pre-pandemic activities resume.

What’s in store for the power lawn and garden equipment market beyond the COVID-19 pandemic? Highlights from a new Freedonia Group study analyzing this market are presented below.

Power Lawn & Garden Equipment Sales to Rise 3.4% Annually Through 2024

Demand for power lawn and garden equipment is forecast to rise 3.4% per year through 2024, supported by:

• an increase in home sales and new housing construction, as more millennials purchase their first homes and require power lawn and garden equipment to maintain their outdoor spaces
• product development that results in higher value equipment, such as more advanced battery-powered options, robots, and more products with more efficient internal combustion engines

The desire to reduce the amount of labor involved in maintaining lawns and gardens, especially among the aging population, will lead to two trends:

• the purchase of lighter, easy-to-use equipment for DIY maintenance
• greater reliance on professional services to provide DIFM (do-it-for-me) landscaping, which will spur long-term sales in the commercial market

Development of Battery-Powered Products Advances, Increasing Adoption

Demand for cordless (battery-powered) power lawn and garden equipment is expected to post double-digit annual growth through 2024, driven by increased adoption of products as a result of rising availability and consumer awareness coupled with continual product development:

• Suppliers of cordless or battery-powered equipment are consistently improving performance to better compared to equipment that uses other power sources, like internal combustion engines.
• Battery-powered products that are currently on the market last longer, are more powerful, and charge faster than their predecessors.
• Additionally, producers offer battery-powered products as part of a system or range of powered equipment with interchangeable batteries. For example, Makita and Milwaukee have products that range from outdoor power equipment to power tools.

This, along with their strong environmental profile – no emissions, energy savings, and lower noise – is leading consumers to increasingly select these products. Moreover, more commercial landscaping businesses are choosing to use battery-powered products for similar reasons.

Lawn mowers are expected to contribute the most to gains through 2024, supported by both adoption of battery-powered walk behind mowers and sales of robotic lawn mowers. Both products will find increased sales opportunities from new product releases that increase the range of their mowing capability, or can operate without boundary wires, in the case of robotic lawn mowers.

Rising Demand for Electrically Powered Products Spurs Increased Imports

In the August 2020 edition of the Freedonia Group National Online Consumer Survey, 47% of respondents and 76% of those who own any type of power lawn and garden equipment reported that they owned at least one type of electric equipment.

As demand for electrically powered products continues to rise, it is expected that electric products will continue to take a larger share of the market going forward. The rise in demand has primarily been met by imports in recent years. China in particular has expanded shipment of electric power lawn and garden equipment to the US. Due in part to growing imports of electrically powered equipment, the US is now a net importer of power lawn and garden equipment.

Want to Learn More?

Power Lawn & Garden Equipment is now available from the Freedonia Group.

Robotic Lawn Mowers – Coming Soon!

About the Author:

Peter Kusnic is a Content Writer with The Freedonia Group, where he researches and writes studies focused on an array of industries.