Cutting tool lines hone female marketing message - marketing of garden tools for women - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, Sept 4, 2000 by Debbie Howell

The realization that more than half of the country's garden enthusiasts are women has finally hit home. As a consequence, gardening tools such as pruning shears, loppers and trowels have undergone a makeover in the past year. For the first time, pastel-colored handles with smaller grips appeared on tools at Wal-Mart, while Kmart extended its successful Martha Stewart line into lawn and garden, bringing fashionably coordinated tools and accessories to the former male oriented department.

"Everyone's finally got the message we need to design for women, whether that's making things better-sized to women's hands or easier weight to handle," said Bruce Butterfield, research director for the National Gardening Association.

Whether blatant or subtle, vendors in the $4.2 billion non powered lawn-and-garden hand tools business all have shifted their attention toward designing products for women. While Garden Pals outwardly targets females and seniors with its Garden Gals line, Fiskars takes a slightly more gender-neutral approach, designing easier-to-use tools for both sexes.

Mass retailers, meanwhile haven't been afraid to experiment with female-oriented products, seeing that the lawn-and-garden category is exploding due in part to aging Baby Boomers with more time on their hands. Estimates on the sales growth of hand tools this past year ranged from 5% to 10%.

Wal-Mart targeted female gardeners in a big way this past season with a private-label line of tools sporting mauve and powder-blue handles designed for women. The line, called "Ladies Comfort Series," was Garden Gals' first retail entry during a one-year exclusive period.

As part of her product development research, Victoria Addison of Garden Pals said she asked female gardeners what changes were needed in tools. "The biggest thing was that they couldn't get their hands around them. We reduced the width of grip to 3.5 inches," Addison said. Lighter weight than regular garden tools, the Garden Gals line was also designed with the elderly in mind, or those suffering from arthritis. Fiskars, meanwhile, has concentrated on making its tools lightweight and easier to use, regardless of sex. The company's new PowerGear hedge shears, for example, uses two gears to amplify cutting force, making pruning a breeze. Another innovation is the Telescoping Pruning Stik, a lightweight tree pruner that extends 13 feet to cut hard-to-reach branches without a ladder.

Ames-True Temper line has emphasized ergonomics in its garden tools, while not marketing to women specifically. All the same, the company's new products at the recent National Hardware Show included two pruners with colorful translucent handles, with obvious female appeal.

Other products from Ames-True Temper that may skew more toward female gardeners are NatureCraft tools, which are lighter weight for working in smaller gardens; the Gard n Grip tool gift pack, made in bright purple and green; and the Easy Roller Lawn Cart, which is made of lightweight plastic with wide wheels for easy maneuverability.

But small-scale tools can appeal to men as well, as V&B Manufacturing has found with its Mini-Groundscaper landscaping tool line. "We've aimed them principally at the women's market and the senior market," said Frank Burgmeier, a spokesman for V&B. "But it really caught on with the small scale gardener and seniors and the handicapped."

Another factor that affects purchasing is a gardener's level of interest. Alan Rutkowski, senior product manager for Fiskars garden tools, said occasional gardeners make up the majority of purchasers, at about 70%, while gardening enthusiasts account for about 25% of sales. The smallest group, about 5%, is considered the serious or master gardener. Because of these variances, astute retailers should carry a good/better/best assortment in hand tools.

Inexpensive private-label imports at mass are common, such as 97-cent black plastic trowels and cultivators found under Wal-Mart's Garden Basics label this past spring. The Ladies Comfort line from Garden Pals, in contrast, had higher price points ranging from $4.96 to $16.96. Another exception is Kmart's Martha Stewart line, which features stylish tools inspired by unusual tools from Stewart's own garden shed. Among the items are a $5.99 comfort trowel and a $8.99 bamboo rake.

Chuck Greenidge, president of industry consulting firm Greenidge & Associates, estimated sales of nonpowered lawn and garden tools will grow at least 5% this year to $4.4 billion.

Home centers garner the largest share of sales, at roughly 40%, and have been stealing share from mass in the specific niches of tools and fertilizer, Greenidge said. But at the same time mass retailers have focused on basic tools, home centers are now getting products from companies such as Corona Clipper, which previously sold its professional landscape tools solely in garden centers. With gardening experience under their belt, consumers who have moved beyond weekend maintenance dabbler are increasingly trading up in tools.