Ecological issues propel mulching mowers

Discount Store News, August 20, 1990

Ecological Issues Propel Mulching Mowers

The lawn mower business will undergo major changes during the next five years, spurred by both ecological and technological factors.

The most obvious change will be the advent of the mulching mower as the dominant lawn and garden mower, eventually accounting for a 30 percent to 50 percent market share, according to trade estimates. These mowers chop cut grass into very small pieces and spread it on the mowed lawns as a mulch.

But environmental pressures and technical factors will also result in power mowers featuring quieter and less polluting engines, while the machines will be lighter, more efficient, more aerodynamic in look and ergonomically advanced in design.

The retailer portion of the business will see off-price merchants, discount stores, membership warehouses and home centers capture a greater share of the market from higher-priced brand dealers who once accounted for most of the volume. The result will be a continued downward pressure on prices, even for mulching mowers and machines deploying new technology like electric starting, all-wheel steering and overhead valve engines with oil filters.

On the manufacturing side, consolidation will result in fewer companies, with a greater presence of European and Japanese firms as well as vendors that provide a range of lawn and garden merchandise, not just power equipment.

At the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute's Expo '90, Ron Jones, K mart's horticulture buyer, said that mulcher mowers won't be a market factor this year or in 1991, but they "are here to stay and will become a greater factor in years to come."

Thomas Geisse, The Wholesale Club's senior vice president of marketing and advertising, noted that mulching mowers accounted for about 1 percent of the market this year, but in the 1970s - without any Green Revolution push - they accounted for 5 percent of the market.

Concern about the environment isn't limited to the boom in mulching mowers, which are viewed as the ecologically preferred solution to the ban on dumping grass clipping being enacted in a growing number of localities.

The other impact will be emissions standards for vehicles, including power mowers. California - which is battling serious air quality problems - has engaged Southwest Research Co. and Booz, Allen Hamilton to develop emissions standards, with their report due by January '91, said George Thompson, Briggs & Stratton's public relations manager.

The use of plastics is expected to grow, both to reduce weight to make engines more efficient and to allow designers to create lawn mowers with rounded, aerodynamic shapes. European designs will likely be emulated, said Steve Pope, Noma Industries' manager of product marketing.

European manufacturers have been leaders in cutting mower noise levels and domestics manufacturers will be following suit, added Nic Smokey, Tecumseh Products' advertising manager.