German garden trade grows

Sales of the 15 biggest German companies operating in the garden business both at home and abroad experienced an increase of 2.2 per cent to a volume of € 8.698 bn gross in 2012. This emerges from the data in “Dähne Statistik Garten”, which covers DIY retailers, cooperatives and garden centre multiples. It is apparent that this sales trend has more or less kept pace with both the growth in store figures (plus 2.4 per cent) and retail areas (plus 3.1 per cent). These results are based on data from the 20 top companies. The trend towards a larger sales space per store is still continuing. Retail space in Germany is continuing to grow, not only in absolute terms but also on average in the case of individual garden centres: in 2012 a 2.3 per cent increase to a total of 2 880 stores was offset by a 3.5 per cent increase in retail area to 5.377 mio m² overall. The German sector is still involved to a considerable degree in international activities. Currently 14 German companies are operating garden centres beyond national borders. Here they are still on track for further expansion, with a total of 19 more garden centres abroad at year’s end, which is close to three per cent more than in 2011. The floorspace trend, which amounted to a 4.8 per cent increase, exceeded the increase in store numbers, just as in the domestic market. Though the growth rates were in part considerably higher than in previous years.