| June best month for gardening? |
By: Rebecca Hubbard
|
Posted: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 10:19 am
|
The latest HTA Garden Industry Monitor (GIM) Market Update has reported that June proved to be the high point of the garden season to date, benefiting from the fine weather the month had to offer as well as consumers staying at home to revel in World Cup and other sport event hysteria.
Statistics from the HTA's Retail Business Benchmark survey of independent garden retailers found that average sales for the month were up 8.2% on last year's levels.
The results have made up for the disappointing sales downturn in April and May. However, they are not enough to recover sales lost earlier in the year when the industry suffered one one of the harshest winters on record.
Andrew Maxted, HTA director of marketing, said: "It is encouraging to see the garden industry sustaining much of the growth experienced in 2009, which was widely regarded as a golden year.
"Despite challenges to public and household budgets, consumers have continued to spend on their gardens and June's good weather has helped consolidate the gains from last year. Early indications are that July proved another good month and the garden industry appears better prepared than many sectors for the choppy recovery ahead."
Future Foundation predictions for the HTA forecast that in-home leisure spending (which includes gardening), will continue to rise between now and 2012. It is also predicted that its rate of growth will outstrip out-of-home leisure spending. |
|
Printer-friendly format
Use the following icons to post this article on social networking and bookmarking sites |
Login and voice your opinion!
|
Digg
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Technorati
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!
