Tips for lawn & garden growth

If sales are flat, sagging or lagging, it might be a good time to go green. 

To cash in on the increasingly lucrative lawn & garden business, Home Improvement Research Institute (collaborating with YipitData) offers several tips and takeaways to help you mow down the competition. 

Lawn mowers are fueling growth.

According to HIRI, Lawn & Gar­den sales in the U.S. have grow­n 7 percent in the trail­ing 12 months -- thanks in large part to the "Lawn Mow­er" seg­ment. Zero-Turn mow­er sales, in par­tic­u­lar, are soaring.

HIRI shares the latest data (from 2024) that lawn mow­ers account for roughly 8 percent of the Lawn & Gar­den cat­e­go­ry. Mowers have also seen a 15 percent sales bump year-over-year, and they continue to fare much better than counterparts like hedge trim­mers, string trim­mers and leaf blow­ers. 

As for zero-turn mowers, HIRI writes:

"Zero-turn mow­ers account for 28 percent per­cent of the lawn mow­er cat­e­go­ry, with its 2024 share of the cat­e­go­ry grow­ing 2 percentage points year-over-year and sales grow­ing 21 percent."

Toro is on a tear.

Since striking a deal with Lowe's in 2023, Toro has boosted sales and market share -- especially in terms of zero-turn mowers. HIRI shares that the Minnesota-based manufacturer has increased its zero-turn mar­ket share from just 9 percent in 2023 to an incredible 25 percent in 2024. This rise, according to HIRI, is coming at the expense of oth­er brands like Ariens, Bad Boy Mow­ers, and John Deere. HIRI reports that Toro has experienced a 220 percent gross merchandise value in zero-turn mowers.