Outdoors opens up for retail

By Lisa Girard

The outdoor living category is a $70 billion market in the United States and growing steadily, according to industry experts. The rise of staycations, which means people are spending their vacation and leisure time at or close to their homes, has increased consumer spending in such categories as planting, grills, outdoor furniture, waterfalls and fountains, storage and solar lighting, among others.

“The economy has really affected the sale of higher ticket items, but fortunately, consumers are staying around their homes and improving their outdoor living space,” said Jeff Peifer, Ace Hardware’s buyer for outdoor living.  “Ace was very fortunate to be up 3.5% in the outdoor living category in a dismal economy.”

Ace’s Living Accent patio furniture and decor program continues to be a major focus for the co-op and now features 450 to 500 skus in the patio category with 27 collections retailing from $179.99 to $2,499. Ace also stocks 150 exclusive statuary and pottery decor items that “generate much needed impulse sales,” Peifer said.

Oudoor living also remains a growth category for True Value, which continues to expand its product offerings and outdoor living catalog. The 2009 catalog features new Grill Zone gas grills and barbeque tools and accessories. The company has also expanded its Four Seasons solar lights program and its outdoor decor selection.

“True Value retailers can choose from a wide range of upscale, quality products, and the catalog plays an important role in providing retailers with the full scope of the merchandise available to them from True Value,” said Ken Kubis, divisional VP merchandising, seasonal, lawn and garden, tools and home.

Todd Santee, Do it Best’s merchandise manager for outdoor living, said the category’s rapid growth was evident at the spring market last month in Indianapolis. The co-op has expanded the lines of products to include chat groups and dining groups in the trendiest colors. He said many Do it Best retailers don’t have the space to display big items, so they rely on the catalog to show customers a wide variety of styles and price points. (Catalog circulation has doubled in the last two years.)

Santee also spoke about the staycation concept and the fact that consumers are spending more money on outdoor areas and items that extend the outdoor season, like fire pits and patio heaters. “Retailers are getting creative with store displays to show ideas for outdoor living by putting groupings together – as space allows,” he said. “For instance, (they might) show a casual patio set grouped with a grill and a fountain.”

According to Rick Pontz, president of the Lawn and Garden Performance Group, some hardware stores are now devoting as much as 27% of floor space to these products. Pontz also said that one of the major hardware co-ops has hired new lawn and garden buyers and switched over some existing buyers to lawn and garden from other categories.

“Lawn and garden has become a safe haven for retailers, and a lot of retailers are beginning to devote more shelf space and attention to the category,” Pontz said during an educational session at the National Hardware Show last month. “Create an outdoor living room or kitchen, add an awning or canopy over a deck, add a grill, cozy furniture, speakers, ambient lighting. There are outdoor games like bocce ball, croquet, badminton, horse shoes. Put a section in the store and call it staycation.”

The stores that do create extensive outdoor living sections have an opportunity to sell not only grills and outdoor furniture but a variety of accessories as well. Joe Burch, general manager of Grillfinity, which specializes in grilling tool sets, said his company’s sales have picked up at outdoor specialty stores, hardware stores and other venues.

“With the economy, people staying home and doing more refurbishing. Instead of a new griller, they go into a hardware store and buy replacement parts,” Burch says. “While there, they pick up a brush or accessory. More people are coming in, seeing something and saying, ‘I can use that.’”