Sealants and lawn seeds star products since January, as sectors show positive signs for the year ahead.
GfK's latest look at the DIY market revealed a 0.7% growth in sales of sealants in demand in April, as well as a 2.9% growth in value - not surprising, says GfK, with the housing market looking more stable than it has done for some time.

There is also a general feeling in the market that homeowners have become more introspective during the downturn and that small DIY projects are seeing activity as homes are refurbished, not for sale, but for "actually living in".

Within the sealants sector, acrylic based sealants saw the best performance over the Easter period, up 20% in value, while the silicone sector grew 2.2% in value in April.

Total garden saw a modest 1% drop in the first quarter of 2010, however some sectors reported a strong performance between January and April, according to GfK. One area of growth is lawn seed - a category, which demonstrated double-digit value growth, yet little volume growth in 2009, which resulted in sales value increases of 40.5% between January and April this year.

Following this growth within lawn seed, own label offerings, whilst still showing growth, have lost almost 16 market share points, explained GfK, with branded products now accounting for 52.2% of the category.

Lawn spreaders have shown growth - up 1.6% for the quarter. Interestingly, however, lawn fertilisers themselves have declined 1.3% since January. Not all gardening categories have shown growth, with weed controls down 28% and pest control down 20.6%. GfK's Nev Prevett commented: "For retailers and manufacturers alike, when is this £93m market going to deliver returns?"

2009 was a fantastic year for gardening, with the year ending 14.5% up on the previous. While April remains disheartening for some key sectors, including pest and weeds, it is still encouraging to see, says GfK, that other categories prospered, such as plants, which reported a growth of almost 10%.

Source: www.gfkrt.com/uk