Consumer interest in garden products is at an all-time high, according to new research from homes and interiors PR specialists jwc. Products where interest is at an all-time high include garden decking, garden furniture and plant delivery.

Google searches across the entire home improvement category for the UK are up 42% on the same time last year – and the highest since May 2007 with some products at the highest they have been on Google since records began in 2004.

Jwc director John Warburton, said: “It’s great to know that for the homes & interiors sector, the consumer interest is there.

“What retailers need to navigate are the tricky problem of logistics and delivering not only a great product but setting examples in terms of how we respond to the market at this incredibly challenging time.

“Consumers are wanting something to do whilst on lockdown – with holidays cancelled and the prospect that this summer may be spent at home, their disposable income is going into home improvements.”

Searches for garden decking doubled in the first week after lockdown began on 23 March, and has continued to rise to its highest since Google’s records began in 2004. Interest in garden furniture is also at an all-time high – almost doubling since last year.

Searches for Wallpaper – within the Homes and Gardens category – also peaked in April at the highest since 2004. Interest in Emulsion peaked in the last week of March, and currently is approximately three times higher than the same time last year.

Searches for ‘furniture’ within the Homes and Gardens category were at their highest since 2015 in the first week of April, and up 12% on the same time last year.

The Cheshire-based homes and interiors PR specialists carried out research using the Google Trends platform which takes account of over 3.5 billion searches a day.

While Google Trends doesn’t show exact search volumes it shows increases in interest by providing a ‘normalised’ score of between 0 and 100 against particular terms and categories.