2008 Product Trends... Dragon Gardens NW's solutions are simple, convenient and profitable.

US Demand for Outdoor Furniture, Pottery, Fountains & Grill Products to Reach $7.5 Billion in 2011

Dragon Gardens NW's new warehouse near Shanghai, provides our customers with the opportunity to load their containers with a diverse selection of products, using our Container Direct Program providing items that will take advantage of the fast-growing, outdoor living segment. Working together with Burnt Earth Pottery we are able to create a purchasing program for garden centers and home stores that is simple, convenient and profitable.

The US demand for outdoor furniture, pottery, fountains and grill products (including patio heaters and accessories such as covers, cushions and grilling utensils) will increase 4.0 percent annually to $7.5 billion in 2011. The market will benefit from growth in the number of households and the increasing popularity of outdoor living areas such as patios, porches and decks. In addition, consumer lifestyle trends such as "cocooning" (spending significant time at home) and "outdoor rooms" (using items such as furniture and grills to extend the home's living space outdoors) will support gains as consumers continue to trade up to better products. Still, increases are not expected to be as rapid as in the 2001 to 2006 period, limited by the slowdown in the single-unit housing market. Despite solid demand increases, US shipments of outdoor furniture and grills will be limited by growth in imports, including offshoring of production by US-based manufacturers.

The relatively small patio heating product segment will see the fastest increases, due to strong growth in the South and West, where these products are more popular, and to consumers' desire to extend the season for their outdoor spaces. Grills will also see above-average gains, while the rate of increase in furniture will nearly match the overall average -- although some segments such as wicker and rattan will experience more rapid growth. Our partners in Australia have seen a dramatic rise in the sales of these items at both The Complete Garden and The Burning Log Megastore.

The residential market is critical to the outdoor decor and grill industry, accounting for more than 90 percent of total demand in 2006. We feel the garden centers that do not provide these items with a service staff to back the sales up are missing an opportunity. With the growing demographic of "do-it-for-me" vs. "do-it-myself," the retail garden centers have the physical locations to draw in the customers, but they need to develop the installation staff to deliver and install the large ticket items. Partnering up with landscape contractors may be the solution, to compete with the box stores.

Consumer spending trends and consumer lifestyle choices are critical to the industry's well-being. Over the past decade or so, these factors have significantly aided the growth of the industry, with trends such as cocooning and outdoor rooms boosting demand for outdoor furniture, container gardens, fountains, grills, patio heaters and related accessories. Over this period, many homeowners have significantly upgraded their outdoor living spaces. Initially, much of this spending focused on garden items; however, as the trend matured, spending also turned to patios and deck areas. This resulted in upgrades to outdoor furniture and grill products, e.g., from inexpensive plastic furniture to higher quality metal dining sets.

Portions of this essay furnished by: The Freedonia Group, Inc.

China Recall & Our Garden Pottery

The Mattel Toy Company has been receiving a lot of media attention with it’s numerous product recalls. One of the recalls widely reported was due to lead usage in the painting of toys and the potential for lead poisoning.

Many metals are used in the production of our pottery; from the iron in the clay to the copper and cobalt found in some of our most popular glaze colors. All of these potentially hazardous materials have been rendered inert due to the extreme temperatures that they endure during the firing process. Any Lead or other potentially hazardous materials are rendered harmless and are essentially vaporized once the kiln reaches temperatures above 1200 degrees. Most of these hazardous materials have low melting points which is in part, why they are dangerous and volatile.

“Mattel has a China problem and a supply-chain problem,” says Jean-Pierre Lehmann, an Asia expert at IMD, a business school in Lausanne. And that is the nub of the problem. Western companies in China are operating in a largely lawless environment. There is hardly any effective regulation and little recourse to law. So western firms doing business in China have a responsibility to do their homework and keep a vigilant eye on their suppliers. Corruption, blackmail and counterfeiting are rampant.^1a

Chinese firms, for their part, complain that they are bullied by foreign purchasing managers to cut costs. This forces them to squeeze their own suppliers, with unpredictable consequences. Local firms also moan about having to meet the complex logistical demands of foreign customers in a country where such costs are typically 15% higher than in the West, according to Jürgen Kracht at Fiducia, a consultancy. ^1b

This is why we, at Dragon Gardens Northwest make a concerted effort to oversee our production sites, with spontaneous visits and consistent, independent quality inspections. Our staff inspects, our products during production and loading. We also investigate our manufacturers to make sure they are complying with our human rights and environmental impact statements.

Conscientious business practice should be the rule, not the exception.

^{1 a,1b} Taken from "Plenty of blame to go around" Article, Sept 27th 2007, The Economist

Got questions about your pots or container gardens?

Welcome all to Dragon Gardens NW's blog. We hope to answer any questions we can about home and garden containers. We have imported stoneware, terra cotta, zinc, concrete and slip cast pottery from Asia for the past 6 years.

We hope you make time to visit our commercial website, http://www.dragongardens.com/, if you are a professional purchaser/ manager/ owner of a home, garden or floral business.

If you are a consumer looking for quality, price and unique containers visit our online store at http://www.gotpots.net/.

Or if you have a question regarding products you have purchased from other retailers or wholesalers, we are happy to help answer whatever questions you may have.

Thanks,

Eric Paulson, Owner

Dragon Gardens NW