Boom in Belgium’s gardens

In the first six months of 2011 the garden market in Belgium saw growth of 8.5 per cent on the same period last year. The garden segment is the most significant product group for the DIY stores. Information from market research company GfK reveals that its volume sales of € 182 mio from January to June amounted to a 20.8 per cent share of the DIY retailers’ total sales. Average sales of the large-format DIY stores grew by 3.7 per cent in the first quarter. However, sales growth in the first half-year as a whole amounted to just 0.95 per cent because of severe declines in May and June.