If you are not currently marketing landscape fabrics to applications outside the traditional lawn and garden use, you could be missing sales.
It’s easy to think of landscape fabric in terms of simple 3′ x 50′ rolls of a “good, better, best” offering, or in some cases just a single SKU to have for your retail customers to buy. Many dealers will also offer bulk rolls as either a full roll purchase, or price it per running foot and cut off for the customer the desired length. In both cases, most of those sales are presumed to be going to a traditional landscape setting involving flowers, shrubs, mulch and/or decorative stone coverings.
According to the Freedonia Group, hardscape products will be the fastest growing segment of the landscaping industry through 2017. This will be through demand for stone or paver patios, and outdoor living areas. It is impossible to ignore the tremendous growth this part of the industry has seen over the last several years. There are entire shows on channels such as HGTV and DIY dedicated to outdoor living spaces. However, you may not realize that landscape fabrics (in a commercial grade) can play an important role in this market as well. Whether it is TYPAR Landscape Fabric, Weed Barrier Pro, or Pro5, professional grade fabrics can be used for underneath pavers for weed growth protection between the pavers. DeWitt also has available a full line of geotextiles (think landscape fabrics in a heavier form) for soil separation or stabilization in heavier-duty requirements.
Another growing industry, even in the Midwest and Eastern United States, is the synthetic or artificial turf market. The Western US is the largest market for this product due to water restrictions and the difficulty in growing a traditional lawn, but the Midwest and Eastern regions are beginning to see demand for this product as well. Whether it is a small putting green, or an entire section of lawn being converted to synthetic turf, weed barrier is needed for use underneath the turf to keep weeds from growing through the turf, ruining the look of the “perfect” synthetic grass. TYPAR and Weed Barrier Pro are very popular products for use underneath synthetic grass due to the easy installation and superior weed control capabilities.
Most likely you are already selling hardscape products in some capacity, and maybe you are also even carrying the synthetic grass as well. Some simple cross promotion of landscape fabric as an add-on sale to both of these product categories can add significant dollars to your bottom line at the end of the season.
