Market expansion

Whether you’re currently selling edibles to independent garden centers or thinking about adding them to your customer list, it’s important to know how the category sold this year. Check out the latest stats from sister publication Garden Center magazine and its State of the Industry report.
 

During our travels and conversations with retailers and industry experts, we’ve seen that mixing edibles and ornamentals in containers has been an increasingly popular trend this year. Consumers not only want to be able to eat what they grow, but they want their garden or patio to look good while they do so. Several retailers we spoke to had experienced increased herb sales this year. Edibles sales overall weren’t as strong as last year, according to respondents, with about 10% reporting a decline of more than 10%. However, the trend of growing your own is expected to continue to be significant next year, although possibly not as strong as this year.
 

Annuals were once again the biggest area of growth, but this year it was by a much larger margin. In 2012, 28% of retailers saw the biggest increase in annuals, closely followed by edibles (27%) and perennials (26%). This year the gap was larger, with annuals garnering 23%, edibles 16%, and trees/shrubs at 15% edging out perennials for the top 3 by 1%. This is good news for the trees/shrubs category, which has shown considerable decreases over the last few years.

This year’s best-selling green good was unsurprisingly the same as last year — annuals. However, we saw several shifts in the order. Hanging baskets/combination planters and perennials tied for second place, edging out edibles in 2013. Edibles dropped from second to fourth place, and trees and shrubs took up the fifth and sixth spots, respectively. It’s worth noting that the numbers were fairly evenly spread across the aforementioned categories (except annuals), perhaps indicating an increase in variety in customers’ needs/wants, or waning interest in certain areas.

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