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UK
Pond Equipment Market by Product Sector
- % mix – 2010 by value
In
2007, the UK market for pond equipment began to suffer from an
adverse economic environment and falling consumer confidence. Poor
summer weather, e.g. 2010, has also hindered this sector as
generally people will be more reluctant to install a new pond in
bad weather. A further negative effect on the pond equipment
market was a poor house building and moving market, since
experienced pond owners will often install new ponds upon moving
house. The market continued to decline in 2010 when it was
estimated to be worth £33m at manufacturers selling price (msp).
The major
sectors within the market: ponds, pumps, filtration systems, water
features and pond accessories saw market decline in 2010. However, some
improvement is expected from 2011, with most sectors seeing low growth
and all sectors forecast to grow from 2012.
The ponds
market is the larger market by value and is estimated to be worth £8.2m
in 2010, having seen an estimated 7% decline since the previous year.
Market performance is particularly susceptible to bad weather and suffers
from notoriously unpredictable British summer weather. The market is
sub-divided into liners/underlay (52%), pre-formed ponds (41%) and other
pond types (7%).
The pumps
market accounts for approximately £7m in 2010 and saw a lower rate of
annual decline than the ponds sector. Sales of pumps for self-contained
water features and replacement pumps have contributed to market value.
The market may be sub-divided into pumps with flow rates up to 999
litres/hour (29%), 1000-3999 litres/hour (46%) and 4000 and over
litres/hour (25
Filtration
systems is another large sector within the pond equipment market and is
estimated to be worth £6m in 2010, a decline of around 4% from the
previous year. Lower levels of pond installation have hindered the
market but improvement is forecast from 2011 when low levels of growth
are expected. The market can be divided into 3 categories: combined
units (75%), filters (21%) and UV clarifiers (4%).
Pond
accessories is a fragmented market in terms of product range and is
estimated to be worth around £8m in 2010. Sales are dependent on owning
a pond, but some sectors, e.g. fish food and pond treatments, may be
viewed as essential products and are less dependent on good weather for
sales.
Water
features is a smaller sector of the pond equipment market and is worth
approximately £4m in 2010. In contrast to other sectors of the market,
purchase of these products is not reliant on owning a pond and the market
benefits from gift and impulse purchases.
In terms
of distribution, the major channels for pond equipment are specialist
aquatic/water garden centres, followed by garden centres and then other
smaller channels of distribution such as mail order catalogues, the
Internet and landscape contractors.
Future
prospects for the pond equipment market are more favourable from 2011,
with the total market forecast to remain stable before returning to
growth in 2012. |
