The Barbie Effect
Brits are going green-fingered this summer as new research has revealed that two fifths (41%) of Brits are planning to overhaul their gardens with a new theme or layout this summer, with more than half (59%) planning to invest in new garden furniture.
To help Brits get inspiration for upcoming garden and horticultural projects, Next reviewed Google Search Trends along with TikTok and Instagram hashtag data, to determine the most popular garden trends and aesthetics for 2023.
2023’s most in-demand garden furniture items
Like Barbie at the beach, sunbathing is high on the agenda for optimistic Brits this year, with 85% planning to use their gardens as a haven of relaxation this summer. With that in mind, the sun lounger is set to be the most popular furniture item of the year, clocking up over a million Google searches throughout 2022, and 2.7 million views on TikTok.
The most in-demand garden furniture items for 2023
| Furniture Item | Instagram Hashtags | TikTok Views | 2022 Google Search | Ranking |
| Sun Lounger | 59,129 | 2,700,000 | 1,123,470 | 1 |
| Bench | 76,909 | 9,700,000 | 739,000 | 2 |
| Sofa | 55,425 | 6,900,000 | 487,400 | 3 |
| Corner Sofa | 564 | 349 | 320,800 | 4 |
| Dining Set | 6,106 | 58,103 | 282,400 | 5 |
| Bistro Set | 297 | 0 | 213,700 | 6 |
| Coffee Table | 1,850 | 67,700 | 134,640 | 7 |
| Swing Seats | 28 | 0 | 110,200 | 8 |
| Day Beds | 212 | 291 | 91,680 | 9 |
| Hammock | 1,639 | 73,719 | 66,450 | 10 |
A further 44% of Brits are planning to use their garden for reading, while 15% will be cultivating an alfresco workspace, serving as a study or home working ‘office’. Searches for garden benches and sofas to accommodate these activities topped 739,000 and 487,000 respectively, while these furniture items amassed 9.7 million and 6.9 million respective TikTok views.
The study also shows that more than two in five (43%) are planning on dancing the night away using their garden to host parties and social gatherings, with over half (56%) planning to bring out the grill for a barbecue. In line with this, outdoor dining sets saw over 280,000 Google searches and 58,000 TikTok views during 2022 with this trend of alfresco dining expected to continue into summer 2023.
Other notable furniture items include garden swing seats (110,000 annual Google searches), day beds (91,000 annual Google searches), and hammocks (66,000 annual Google searches) being searched for by the masses, indicating comfy relaxation is top of the agenda for 2023.
Barbie inspired garden furniture from Next:
Next has also reported that onsite searches for ‘Barbie’ inspired products have seen a weekly search increase of 163% following the Barbie film release.
