The Lawn & Garden Consumables market is up modestly in 2026 with in-store sales across the top 5 retailers up +1.3% YTD. Share among the retailer set has remained relatively stable over the past 4-years.
However, that headline masks an increasingly nuanced market below the surface. Retailers made major changes to their assortments in 2026 with category, brand, and price point mix diverging.
Home Depot remains the largest retailer in the set. Its SKU count was nearly flat year over year, but the mix changed: Opening Price Point (OPP) SKU counts declined across categories, while High Price Point (HPP) expanded in areas like Weed Control, Pest Control, Mulch & Media, and Live Goods & Seed. The read is not “more shelf,” but “different shelf” as assortment moves toward premium offerings or value through differentiation.
Lowe’s is the clearest breadth builder and took the most share within the retailer. Lowe’s has the largest assortment in terms of overall SKU count and brand breadth. Its expansion was especially visible in Live Goods & Seed, Weed Control, Pest Control, and Mulch & Media. This reinforces Lowe’s garden-center positioning: more choice, more seasonal depth, and more room for premium or specialty SKUs.
Walmart moved in the opposite direction. SKU count fell 4.6% year over year, largely driven by contraction in Live Goods & Seed. But this was not a broad retreat, Walmart still expanded selectively in Weed Control and higher-tier Mulch & Media, suggesting tighter assortment discipline.
Tractor Supply and Menards are smaller but faster-moving. Tractor Supply grew sales ~5.1% and expanded SKUs 10.8%, especially across specialty/rural missions such as pest, weed, and live goods. Menards grew 3.9%, with more targeted expansion in Lawn Care and Fertilizer & Plant Food. Both are becoming increasingly curated, signaling a more targeted approach.
The heatmap above shows how topline reads can be misleading. Across the retailer set, category level performance ranged from +3.8% to -6.0%. Weed Control (+3.8%) and Mulch & Media (+3.6%) outperformed while Lawn Care (-6.0%) was the only category to decline. Those trends diverge further as we sub-segment deeper.
As highlighted by HIRI, aesthetics are the key motivator for project starts, but achieving that outcome requires multiple steps ripe with inefficiencies. Momentum is strongest where the product differentiator is easy to understand and solves an unmet need. Shoppers want easier planting, faster visual payoff, clearer lawn repair solutions, and more confidence that a product solves a specific problem. Products that meet these needs through differentiation are growing despite higher prices.
Lawn care declined across all retailers and was the biggest drag on overall performance. The strongest defenders are Scotts Turf Builder fertilizer SKUs, especially weed-and-feed and crabgrass-prevention formats which outperformed despite a material price premium.
The top example is Scotts Turf Builder Weed & Feed5 33.95-lb / 12,000-sq-ft at Lowe’s. The SKU gained +2.1pp share, with units up +14.1%. Scotts Turf Builder Halts Crabgrass Preventer with Lawn Fertilizer is another good example of a premium product that’s winning via a clear value proposition tied to convenience message. It grew 36.8% and took share, showing that shoppers still respond to bundled lawn outcomes when the claim is specific.
Scotts shows the national-brand defense playbook: own a clear job-to-be-done, make the benefit obvious.
“Better-for-Household” signals like organic, natural, pet/kid-friendly, etc. are an emerging value driver that’s resonating with a specific shopper cohort, despite a premium price point. The strongest momentum is in Fertilizer & Plant Food and Weed Control, but additional momentum pockets are emerging across multiple sub and minor categories.
Younger and early-family-age shoppers, especially 25–34 and 35–44 women, are driving the growth. The category does not appear to be a purely premium-income story; instead, better-for-household language cuts across income groups, demonstrating that value isn’t always exclusively price and productivity driven.
The shelf is not simply expanding or contracting, it’s becoming more curated, more occasion-led, and more outcome-oriented. Brands need to take a more surgical view of market sub-segments to position their products to resonate with retailer and shopper specific value drivers.
Interested in learning additional ways to use data to inform your brand strategy in an evolving retail landscape? Join our upcoming webinar, where YipitData analysts break down what shoppers actually bought this Lawn & Garden season, including sub-category performance, retailer share shifts, and repeat-trip behavior.
Register for YipitData's Webinar held on September 22nd, 1:00 PM ET.
With over 205 million home improvement data points annually, YipitData offers the most accurate and granular insights into Lawn & Garden and other home improvement sectors. By combining multiple data sources with predictive modeling, YipitData delivers actionable intelligence with minimal lag, enabling brands and retailers to make informed, data-driven decisions.