The French gardening market: why is it worth 7.7 billion ?
With the return of the warmer months, gardening reclaims a central place in household spending. In France, 58% of people have a garden a their main or second home, in a market worth €7.7billion. Yet despite the digitalisation of retail, e-commerce captures only 7% of it.
Which segments drive this market? Why is online retail struggling to establish itself? And what does this momentum reveal about household spending trade-offs?
Key figures for the gardening market
Key points on the French market:
– the gardening market is worth €7.7 billion
– 58% of French people have a garden at their main or second home
– plants account for 20% of the total market
– specialist garden superstores hold 42% of market share
– DIY superstores account for 35% of volumes
– e-commerce captures only 7% of the market
The three pillars of the market
The gardening market rests on several complementary segments.
Plants: Plants, shrubs, seeds and flowers account for 20% of the total market.
Outdoor equipment: Tools, powered garden machinery, furniture and landscaping represent a significant share of spending, with average baskets noticeably larger than for plants.
Pleasure spending: Barbecues, lighting, decoration and the sociable fitting-out of outdoor spaces complete the picture.
The garden has become an additional living room, an extension of the home, with the fitting-out and investment logic that implies. People no longer buy simply to grow things, but to inhabit a space.
Who sells gardening products in France?
Distribution remains heavily concentrated in specialist physical channels:
– specialist garden superstores: 42% of market share
– DIY superstores: 35% of volumes
– e-commerce: 7% of the market
Between them, the physical specialist chains account for more than three quarters of sales a configuration that has become rare in retail.
Why has e-commerce failed to take off in this market?
Three structural factors explain this resistance.
The need for advice
Choosing a plant suited to a given aspect, soil type and climate calls for guidance that is hard to replicate online. The purchase is prescriptive: the salesperson steers the decision.
Seeing the product
A living plant is assessed by eye: habit, vigour, health, flowering. The product is not standardised, unlike a manufactured good identified by a reference number.
Seasonality and logistics
The buying peak is concentrated into a few weeks in spring, which complicates stock and flow management. Added to that is the cost of transporting living plants, or items that are bulky, fragile and heavy.
Gardening thus illustrates a structural limit to the digitalisation of retail: when a product is living, non-standardised and highly seasonal, the store retains an advantage that is hard to compete with.
A spending category households protect
The vitality of this market is part of a broader trend: spending tied to the home, to the living environment and to domestic wellbeing holds up against budget trade-offs.
The pet market offers another illustration: it is worth €16.6 billion, more than double gardening.
Both markets share the same logic. They stem from an attachment to the home and to everyday quality of life categories households protect first, even when they are tightening spending elsewhere.
What this market reveals about consumption in 2026
Gardening offers a useful vantage point on purchasing behaviour.
It shows first that the digitalisation of retail is not uniform: some products remain structurally tied to the physical point of sale.
It shows next that the hierarchy of household spending cannot be reduced to a contrast between the essential and the superfluous. The living environment occupies a place of its own, between everyday comfort and long-term investment in the home.
And it confirms the weight of seasonality in domestic consumption, with activity heavily concentrated into a few weeks.
It is this fine-grained reading of trade-offs that the Observatoire Cetelem de BNP Paribas Personal Finance tracks over time.
👉 Discover the Consumption 2026 study by the Observatoire Cetelem
FAQ – The gardening market in France
How big is the gardening market in France?
The gardening market is worth €7.7 billion in France, and only 7% of it is transacted online.
Which segments make up the gardening market?
Plants account for 20% of the total market, alongside outdoor equipment and pleasure spending such as barbecues and the fitting-out of outdoor spaces.
Which distribution channels dominate the gardening market?
Specialist garden superstores hold 42% of market share, ahead of DIY superstores with 35% of volumes.
Why does e-commerce remain marginal in the gardening market?
It accounts for only 7% of the market, because advice, seeing the product and strong seasonality still play a decisive role in purchasing behaviour.
Is gardening a seasonal market?
Yes. Activity is largely concentrated when the warmer months return, which makes the market dependent on the spring calendar.
Why does spending tied to the home hold up against budget trade-offs?
It belongs to the living environment and everyday wellbeing, categories households tend to protect, as the €16.6 billion pet market also shows.
Key takeaways
The French gardening market is worth €7.7 billion, supported by the 58% of French people who have a garden. Plants account for only 20% of it, with most of the rest coming from equipment and amenity.
Distribution remains dominated by physical channels 42% for specialist garden superstores, 35% for DIY chains while e-commerce is capped at 7%, held back by the need for advice, the need to see the product, and seasonality.
A market that confirms, alongside the pet market (€16.6 billion), the resilience of spending tied to the home and the living environment.
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