The garden keeps on growing

Garden centres are booming in Germany: as in previous years, the total number of outlets operated by the 20 largest German garden centre companies increased again, this time by 106 units to 3 461, between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011. This amounts to a percentage increase of around 3.1 per cent within the one-year period. These figures were computed by Dähne Verlag and initially presented at the recent Spoga+Gafa event in Cologne. That means that the number of garden centres belonging to this group in Germany rose by 330 units or nearly eleven per cent since 2008. The combined sales area of the group’s garden centres also rose in parallel, expan­ding by 260 000 m² (plus 4.1 per cent) from 2010 to 2011 to achieve a total of 6.5 mio m². Growth since 2008 amounts to 560 000 m², or 9.4 per cent in percentage terms. The average size of garden centres has also seen a slight increase, with a rise of 18 m² (plus one per cent) between 2010 and 2011 to 1 879 m². Again between 2010 and 2011 the number of international locations belonging to German garden centre retailers rose by 28 stores to a total of 633, a percentage increase of 3.9 per cent. There were 14 German garden centre companies operating in a total of 24 countries in December 2011. Obi and Bauhaus lead the field in terms of the number of countries where they are represented outside Germany: in twelve countries each. Obi has by far the greatest number of international garden centres at 223, followed by Baywa with 93 and Praktiker with 88. The gardening market as a whole failed to develop as positively last year as it had done in 2010. Although it did see growth, this was definitely lower at +0.8 per cent than in 2010 (+3.3 per cent). The green market in Germany has expanded by some € 665 bn since 2003, which amounts to an increase of 3.8 per cent. While garden hardware, the previous year’s winner, practically came to a standstill with a plus of just 0.3 per cent (€ 6.322 bn), the live plants segment experienced sales growth of € 127 mio (1.1 per cent) for a total of € 11.624 bn, a record figure that hadn’t been reached for years. Since 2003 the sales results for the live plants segment had fallen by € 156 mio (-1.3 per cent) whereas garden hardware sales went up by € 821 mio (14.9 per cent). This shows how differently these two segments have been in their development over the past nine years. Download: