Lawnmowers less in demand

Last year saw overall sales of powered lawnmowers in Europe decline by 11.4 per cent to 4.413 mio units. Market volume went down over the same period by 11.6 per cent to 837 mio euro, as the latest market survey from Interconnection of Vienna reveals.
The market was on the decline throughout Europe. Least affected by the trend were the countries of southern Europe like Italy, with a market down by 2.8 per cent, or Spain and Portugal with a drop of 3.7 per cent. In contrast to this, there was a substantial decline in France (minus 11.1 per cent) and in Germany (minus 11.8 per cent). Worst hit of all was the UK market with a sales shortfall of 17.7 per cent.
The biggest individual European market in 2001 was Germany, with a volume of 1.168 mio units and a 26.5 share of the total European market, followed by the United Kingdom with 1.002 mio units and a 22.7 per cent market share. Reductions in quantitative terms were recorded in all product categories. Despite this, petrol-operated lawnmowers with rates of decline amounting to 6.6 per cent for self-propelled and 8.4 per cent for push models managed to hold their own better than electric mowers, which recorded a 12.6 per cent decline for cable models and 16.7 per cent for battery-operated mowers. This development seems to contradict the general tendency towards electrically powered garden equipment.
Traditional electric mowers (mains operated) formed the strongest segment in the European market, though they also suffered the greatest decline of 16.7 per cent to 1.797 mio units, which corresponds to a 40.7 per cent market share. Because of the low average cost of electric mowers, their market share by value came to only around 15.5 per cent.
The sale of battery-operated mowers went down by 12.6 per cent, which means that it has reverted to the 1996 level. Enquiries among consumers and retailers prove that the greatest obstacles to the further development of this product group are the still inadequate operating time and poorer performance of battery-powered motors.
The second largest segment in the marketplace is represented by petrol-operated, self-propelled lawnmowers with a market share of 28.1 per cent by volume and 33.2 per cent by value. This segment went down by 6.6 per cent.
Traditional push mowers achieved a volume market share of 22.1 per cent, on the other hand, and 16.0 per cent by value; this segment saw an overall decline of 8.4 per cent in the year 2001.