Houseplants sales are booming as a result of our longing for an outdoor experience after the year we spent inside our homes.
An exciting little miracle has taken place in the past year (can you believe it?) – People are starting to heavily consume plants and incorporate green into their lives. Whether this is part of our fatigue with on-screen living or simply our desire to connect to nature, gardening is the comforting trend of the moment. From January to May this year, sales of indoor planters on e-commerce platform Amara were up 79% YoY. Market research repeatedly shows that we will see an increase in services and products related to this blooming industry. This trend’s economy is a never-ending festival of innovation, from home-growing stands and natural light accessories in an endless category on Amazon to natural light detector apps, understanding how much light is available in your house for your specific plant. We can divide this trend into two segments:
Houseplants: Interaction with indoor plants may reduce psychological and physiological stress by suppressing autonomic nervous system activity in young adults. It’s no surprise that this trend took consumers by storm in a year like 2020. People find taking care of plants to be a relaxing and meditative action because they require us to slow down and carefully tend to something.
Grow your own food: People have become more concerned than ever with what they eat and how it’s grown – whether you rent a small apartment with a windowsill or own an acre of land, there is a solution for everyone interested in growing their own food. For example, a mini-garden appliance called Wells Farm enables users to grow vegetables hydroponically and pesticide-free in the comfort of their own home. This trend is also part of bringing the foodie experience full-circle. People are more excited to cook with recipes using fresh, home-grown flavors, and growing your own food can take the average foodie to the next level of cooking knowledge. According to Statista research, investing in fruit and vegetable plants is the #4 most purchased gardening and outdoor product during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom.
Either way, this trend is here to stay: consumers are longing for an outdoor experience after the year we spent inside our homes (link to my post) and by 2022, more DIY-related products and gardening categories will be hitting the top of purchasing statistics. You can read more about the psychology behind this trend here.
If you are interested in an overview of some of 2021-2022 consumer trends,