A maturing market

 

Considering the incredibly rapid growth of the houseplant market over the past few years, it’s no surprise that the boom is starting to slow. Garden centers’ houseplant sales are still strong and trending upward, but growth is looking more conservative in the coming year than it did in 2020 when the recent houseplant craze first took off.

While nearly three-quarters of IGCs planned to increase their houseplant stock in 2022, only about half plan to up their offerings over the course of this year. And the number of garden centers expecting a rise in sales is down 14 percentage points this year from last year. That’s down a total of 27 percentage points from two years ago.

But growth is still steady, if not as drastic as it has been in past years. A full quarter of garden centers saw a sales increase of 15% or more last year and the vast majority of IGCs increased their prices last year. And price increases are even more common this year than they were when the houseplant craze first started taking off. In 2020, about 70% of garden centers raised their average houseplant prices, but in 2021 and 2022, 87% raised their average prices.

Of course, it’s important to take inflation, rising gas prices and more into consideration as we look at the average plant price. Read on for more insights into the houseplant market now and in the future.

— Kate Spirgen

Survey methodology: Data for the 2023 Houseplant Report was collected via online survey of nearly 300 independent garden centers in the U.S. and Canada that offer houseplants at their stores in April 2023. Editor’s note: Due to rounding, not all responses add up to 100%

Slowing growth

For the first time since we began this report in 2020, garden centers are reporting significantly less growth than in previous years, and more are reporting a decrease in sales than ever. For the past three years, only about 3% of IGCs saw a decrease in sales compared to the year before. This year, nearly a quarter of garden centers sold fewer houseplants than the year before.

The number of stores that increased their stock in 2022 was also down by about 10 percentage points compared to 2021, and down 25 points from 2020. And this year, far fewer garden centers are planning to increase their offerings in the coming year than last year.

It’s important to note, however, that the explosive growth of the market over the past few years has left sales little room to grow, and customers’ homes have filled up with houseplants since the buying boom of 2020.

Forecasting sales for the rest of this year, 69% expect to see an increase in sales, so the market is still growing strong, just not as much as it did during the pandemic boom.

Prices on the rise

While garden centers might not be increasing their sales as much as the past few years, prices are continuing to climb. In 2022 and 2021, nearly 90% of IGCs raised their plant prices, while in previous years only less than 70% upped their price tags.

Garden centers on the whole are taking a very different approach to pricing than they did when the houseplant craze first started taking off. While in the past, IGCs looked heavily at the cost from supplier or cost to grow, they’re now factoring in market price and demand, as well as freight or shipping costs much more.

In-store preferences

Garden centers are reporting less ambition to sell their houseplant stock online than they did last year. The number of IGCs with no online buying options and no plans to open a web store rose nearly 10 percentage points this year. With COVID farther in the rearview mirror, fewer IGCs are offering the option to buy online and pick up in store as well.

Education & outreach

Social media remains one of the most popular ways to promote houseplants, but this year more IGCs are using videos on platforms like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, and relying less on still images and copy on Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Hot houseplants

We asked garden centers which plants were their top sellers in 2022. Here are the 10 most popular options from the last year.