1.1 Definition and scope of study

The garden furniture market covers the entire range of outdoor furniture: garden chairs, garden sheds, but also lamps, tables and big appliances.

The market, in global stagnation for five years, is mainly characterized by the level of renovations, replacement purchases are more important than original equipment purchases. Because of the very long life of the furniture, brands therefore rely on three factors to increase their sales: fashion and design effects, the construction of new homes and the mobility of the population.

The furniture sector is very healthy in Italy, being one of the world's top exporters. The garden furniture market has been steadily growing since the turn of the decade and is currently valued between 425 and 450 million euros. It is driven by consumer attention to outdoor furniture but remains strongly influenced by its seasonality and economic cycles as a whole. Although demand remains linked to these exogenous factors, a new trend is taking hold: last minute purchases. Contrary to what one might think, the buying habits of these products - often associated with an important and thought out investment - can represent an impulsive expenditure.

In the meantime, the supply side is attempting to stimulate purchasing decisions with a greater frequency in innovation, translating in an increasing attention paid to design and manufacturing materials. To date, there are a few thousand companies active in the production of garden items, whose survival is questioned by a progressively more competitive climate. In fact, the market is characterized by intense competition between the various distribution channels, such as large furniture manufacturers, outdoor furniture specialists, supermarkets, DIY stores, large gardening centres and classic furniture stores now have to cope with the remarkable growth of e-commerce.

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic was beneficial to this market. With people spending more time at home, they turned to furnishing, decorating and rendering their outdoor living spaces more comfortable and welcoming.

1.2 Steady growth for the global market

The global outdoor furniture market is estimated to be worth approximately **.* billion dollars for the year ****. Growth forecasts provided by Grand View Research give a compound annual growth rate of *% over the period ****-****. Furniture made of wood accounts for approximately two thirds of the total furniture stock. This is far ...

1.3 The growing Italian market

There are no precise figures that delineate the true size of the garden furniture market in Italy. This is because garden furniture falls under the broader category of “outdoor furniture, decorations and gardening”, but also under that of furniture. The former market naturally includes garden furniture but also any element which ...

1.4 Imports & exports

Garden furniture is a sub-category of outdoor furniture, which in turn is a sub-category of furniture in general. Furniture manufacturers don't usually specialise in terms of outdoor or indoor furniture but rather types of furniture (***). Since this is the case it is difficult to identify the precise trade flows in and ...

1.5 The impact of COVID-19

**** was the year that marked a shift in the garden furniture market. Previously considered end-of-spring and summer-time accessories, in **** garden furniture became a year-round hot topic. For people with gardens, terraces, balconies and external spaces, the months of confinement truly blurred the lines between indoor and outdoor. The need to have ...

2.1 Italians and their gardens

Italians are a home-owning population, in fact **% of them own at least one residential property. Outdoor living spaces are quite common in Italy, even in cities. In fact, **% of households have either a garden, a terrace or a balcony. This phenomenon is distributed quite equally geographically speaking, Piedmont has the highest ...

2.2 Italians and their furniture

Italians seem to be a population that appreciates furniture. In fact, when looking at both continental and national figures this observation holds true.

When comparing household consumption on furniture and home furnishings with other countries in Europe, Italy ranks second only behind Germany. Italian households spend more on furniture than countries ...

2.3 Best sellers

In Italy **% of sales of garden furniture revolved around * types of furniture: tables, chairs and benches. Since these often come in already made sets and are bought in this way rather than individually, a further breakdown would be speculative at best. The remaining sales are partitioned between couches (***).

Sales of outdoor ...

2.4 Latest trends in demand

The new trends in demand are quite varied and sometimes unrelated, however, manufacturers have been able to keep up with what consumers seem to want most.

Outdoor homing

Outdoor spaces have become a very important part of the modern household. Families often gather outside (***), but also hosting friends over and parties. ...

3.1 Overview of the market's value chain

The garden furniture sector follows a distribution chain pattern which is specific to the furniture market, where second-hand goods have an important place.

The recycling of garden furniture is made easier by private sales platforms such as Seconda Mano or Mercatino Usato. Sales on social media marketplaces, in particular Facebook, are ...

3.2 Intense competition

The sale of furniture is subject to intense competition between supermarkets, specialised businesses and stores, online sales and general furniture retailers. There are certain companies with a specific area of expertise (***) and furniture manufacturing giants which produce all kinds of articles as well as huge retail and DIY stores like IKEA ...

3.3 Distribution and e-commerce

In Italy, non-specialised (***) stores such as Bricofer, Bricocenter and supermarkets make up **% of distribution channels for garden furniture. Furniture manufacturing chains and companies in fact represent **% of distribution channels for these types of goods. A relatively new phenomenon, the garden centre, which specialises in selling tools and materials for gardening and ...

4.1 Typology of the offer

The products of garden furniture are above all intended to create moments of relaxation or conviviality between friends. The range of products has developed over time, and today includes a wide variety of products, which are divided into four main categories.

Garden furniture

This category includes "typical" outdoor furniture, but also ...

4.2 Different types of manufacturers

In **** in Italy there were more than **.*** firms that manufactured furniture. A large majority of these, *.*** were either individual entrepreneurs, self-employed or freelance manufacturers.

Number of furniture manufacturing firms Italy, ****-****, in number of firms Source: ****

'Other forms' includes cooperative societies, social cooperative societies, other partnerships and legal forms. There are ...

4.3 Location and profile of manufacturers

A study conducted by Homi Outdoor Home & Dehors has given partial insights regarding manufacturers in Italy that also produce outdoor furniture. The regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Campania, Tuscany and Sicily all have over *.*** furniture manufacturing firms, a large minority of the total.

In terms of cities Naples has the most, counting ...

5.1 General regulations

There are various bodies responsible for developing draft standards:

CEN (***) in Europe ISO (***) worldwide

CEN and ISO are responsible for the development of European and global standards in line with market needs, but there is a standardisation body for each country.

Worldwide, ISO has already developed nearly ** *** International Standards and ...

5.2 National, regional and municipal regulations

In Italy there are regulations for furniture that apply at a national level. In the case of urban planning in particular, which is covers outdoor/garden furniture, regions and municipalities often act on their own discretion.

At the national level there are numerous laws, normatives and decrees dealing with issues such ...