Light-weight easy-use tools hedge for space in gardening

Discount Store News, Jan 26, 1998 by Richard Halverson

Lawn and garden cutting tools -- pruning shears, loppers, pruning saws, pole trimmers, hedge shears -- aren't exactly flying off the shelves and enjoy only brief spring and fall seasons.

Nonetheless, the category represents close to $500 million in retail business, growing at a respectable rate of an estimated 5% annually.

Despite the lack of new products, improvements of existing tools intended to make them lighter, more comfortable in the hand and easier to use appeal to women, senior citizens and aging Baby Boomers as replacements for tools bought earlier in life.

In 1996, 13.8 million families bought cutting tools, the National Gardening Association determined in its annual survey. Although down from 14.2 million in 1995, the figure still is 76% higher than the 1991 level of 7.8 million purchases or a growth rate of about 12% annually, said Bruce Butterfield, director of research. The 1997 survey will be released in May.

Although the survey doesn't track dollar purchases, the cutting tool market has split between low-end imports costing less than $10 and high-end forged-steel tools that run as high as $50, Butterfield said.

Manufacturers of non-power tools are constantly seeking to improve their tools, such as employing ergonomics, the study concluded. Gardening has become one of the most popular leisure activities, the study noted, with about one-third of American adults participating. The "graying of America' is a leading factor, including the aging Baby Boomer population.

One of the major trends in cutting tools is the incorporation of ergonomic redesigns to make tools more comfortable in the hand and incorporating cams, levers and ratchets that reduce the amount of cutting pressure required, said Dr. Chuck Greenidge, owner of Greenidge Associates, a nursery industry consulting firm based in Evergreen, Colo.

Hedge shears, for example, once were nothing but big, clumsy scissors. Now manufacturers make them with a bend in the neck at the pivot point and added soft grips that fit the hand.

Another trend: going away from hand pruners toward long-reach loppers and longer pole tree trimmers. The pressure required to use tools is no longer 1 lb. of pressure for 1 lb. of cutting force on the cutting edge. Instead, the cutting force is multiplied as much as three or four times.

Tool makers also are scaling down the gm of tools to make them easier for women and o" citizens to use.

In the mass market, the Wallace division of Fiskars is devoting a great deal of engineering time and talent to improving the quality and ergonomic features of tools. Wallace has an aggressive private label program, producing much of the Better Homes & Gardens cutting tools for Wal-Mart.

The market has polarized, with almost "disposable" tools from China fighting for market share with higher, almost professional-quality tools from American manufacturers, Greenidge said. For example, Corona Clippers, once an upscale supplier to the professional and garden center segment, now has entered the mass market with placement in chains such as Fedco and Bi-Mart.

Mass merchants attempt to keep skus limited in cutting tools. Meijer, Grand Rapids, Mich., for instance, makes a major effort in L&G products, yet offers only a limited brand assortment. It doesn't try for good, better and best but instead offers an opening price point tool and then a higher-end product.

Fred Meyer, Portland, Ore., is yet another and offers a broad selection of cutting tools. Kmart, which offers only its KGro private label tools sourced from Taiwan, is fighting to regain the market share it enjoyed prior to the onslaught of The Home Depot and other major home centers.

Target in its new stores presents a "mixed bag," Greenidge said. Some stores are placing a large emphasis on L&G, while others are not doing as well.

A Target unit in Tampa, Fla., for example, offers just seven skus of Wallace-Fiskars cut-tools: anvil pruners for $6.99 and $13.99; grass shears, $17.49; garden shears, $13.49; hedge trimmers, $18.99 and $19.99; and a lopper, $17.49.

A Wal-Mart unit in Tampa had yet to complete it spring set of garden tools, and a Wal-Mart in Tom River, N.J., displayed only three skus of BH&G pruners, all from Wallace-Fiskars: an anvil pruner with soft grips, $5; and bypass pruners for $7.96 and $0.96.

Fedco, Santa Fe Springs, Calif., is one of the chains taking a two-tier approach to cutting tools, carrying Corona Clippers for upscale offerings and a private label line from Garden Pals for opening price imports from the Orient.

In order to better attract L&G customers, Fedco is consolidating and expanding its patio and L&G departments and adding L&G buying responsibilities to Bob Berger, who previously bought only patio furniture. With the advent of The Home Depot, Fedco "has a huge task to attract L&G customers," Berger said. Home Depot is the No. 1 stop for serious gardeners, he conceded. Fedco is going after the casual gardener, rather than trying to compete with Home Depot. During two to three store remodelings in 1998, Fedco will double the size of the combined patio and L&G departments and merchandise them together.