Patio Porch & Yard. The Next Big Opportunity In Home Furnishings

Furniture World Magazine

After years of decorating and redecorating the interiors of their homes, American consumers are turning their energy outside to spruce up the exterior living areas of their homes. This shift reflects a new outdoor living lifestyle that extends family life beyond the protective cocoon of the home’s walls. Today’s home is a hub for connecting with consumers looking outside to reconnect with their neighbors and local communities. People gain great personal satisfaction from having nicely appointed outdoor living areas. A majority of outdoor living consumers agree with the statement, “My home’s outdoor living space gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment,” according the a new consumer insights study of the outdoor living market conducted by Unity Marketing. “The cocooning lifestage is over. Home is no longer a place to retreat, retire, and nest. In the new connecting lifestage, home becomes a hub for connecting with the outside world. Home is a place of activity, reaching out and doing things. It’s reflected in the new do-it-yourself trend, where consumers undertake DIY not to save money but to express their creativity and skill. Gardening and landscape design are an important means of creative expression for the outdoor living enthusiast. “Home is also a place to entertain and be entertained where the outdoor living spaces of the home play an expanded role,” saids Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses — as well as the Classes, in a speech yesterday before the American Nursery and Landscaping Association’s 2005 Management Clinic in Louisville, KY. The outdoor living market, including outdoor living products and services, reached $62.5 billion in 2004, rising from $60.1 billion in 2003. “While the retail sales of plant materials accounted for $19.6 billion or 31 percent of the total market in 2004, the real growth categories in the coming years will be the tools, equipment, supplies and accessories that enhance the outdoor living lifestyle. “Barbecue grills, bird feeders, porch and patio decorative accents, such as flags, signs, and statuary, and outdoor furniture are top on people’s shopping list when it comes to outdoor living products,” Danziger says. About the insights contained in the Outdoor Living Market, 2005 The consumer insights study, Outdoor Living Market, 2005: Understanding and Predicting Consumers’ Passion for the Outdoor Living Lifestyle, provides details of a survey among 1,000 home owners with incomes of $25,000 and above. The report reveals purchase behavior in four major categories: • Plant Materials — Overall purchase incidence, what products they buy, how much they spend, where the shop, why they buy and brand awareness and preferences. -Garden Tools, Equipment, Supplies — Overall purchase incidence, what products they buy, how much they spend, where the shop, why they buy and brand awareness and preferences. -Outdoor Living Products, such as barbecue grills, lights, fireplaces, furniture, outdoor decorative accents, ponds, pools, etc — Overall purchase incidence, what products they buy, how much they spend, where the shop, why they buy and brand awareness and preferences. -Outdoor Living Services — Overall purchase incidence, what services they buy, how much they spend and why they buy. In addition to consumers’ purchase behavior, their attitudes and motivations in outdoor living purchases are also explored, including a psychographic analysis of four distinct personalities that participate in the outdoor living market: Lounging Lisa, Happy Gardener Helen, Therapeutic Thelma, and Sylvia the Garden Slave. Added-Value Special Report: Garden Retailers’ Survey Results A retailers’ perspective on the outdoor living consumer marketplace is provided through the results of a research survey among 100 of the nation’s leading garden centers. Garden center managers were surveyed about how they perceive the emerging opportunities in the outdoor living marketplace and how they are transforming their businesses to take advantage of the opportunities. This retailer insight provides key strategic information for outdoor living marketers who primarily sell their goods to the consumer through the garden center channel. To reserve a copy of the Outdoor Living Market, 2005 at the discounted pre-publication price, visit http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/outdoor_living/