A boom segment, but with risks

For many years the garden pond business was the exclusive preserve of specialist shops, DIY stores and garden centres. In some countries this situation has still not changed even now. In central Europe, however, where the retail area of many pet product stores is spacious enough to include an attractive garden pond feature, more and more enterprises have been seen to be focusing on the subject of water gardens. The sector is thus reacting to the continued high demand of many customers for a biotope in their back yard. This trend is likely to continue over the next few years, and in rural areas in particular, where gardens are generally bigger than in the cities, there's no end in sight to the garden pond boom. Many pond owners start off with a small pond and gradually expand it over the years. Once they have "become hooked", pond enthusiasts find it hard to shake off their addiction, extending their once small oasis and investing in more sophisticated equipment and new fish for it. Since the creation of a pond involves high costs, the number of people who then give up the hobby is limited by contrast with aquarium hobbyists. The market is thus considerably more reliable than the tropical fish segment, where many beginners drop out again after a short time.To make the idea of a garden pond as appealing as possible to consumers, many pet product retailers now maintain a show pond in their store all year round. If there isn't enough space for this, a show tank containing koi carp or goldfish is a good substitute. The main thing is to arouse the customer's interest.Retailers who go in for the garden pond business have to know what they're doing. Pond customers invest a lot of time and money in their hobby, and therefore expect to receive competent specialist advice right from the outset from the dealer they have put their trust in. Pond owners are demanding and only pet product companies that can offer an extensive and wide-ranging assortment are able to hold their ground. Many businesses work with specialist firms that provide a pond design service to customers of the pet product business and then also build the pond and set it up for them.Attractive presentation is one of the most important prerequisites for the long-term success of a garden pond department. One vital requirement is a sufficiently large retail area that can accommodate the growing range of accessory products on the market. For hygiene as well as other reasons an outdoor area in which pond fish can be presented is also recommended. One key question when considering the space available is deciding whether to stock pond liners or not. Even if the industry has come up with interesting space-saving solutions over the years, the space for a representative range of liners has to be there in the first place.If a pet product dealer intends to specialise in the pond segment as a whole, there are virtually no limits on what he can stock. Fountains, streams and even Japanese tea houses and filter houses lend a special character to a pond. And sophisticated lighting effects further enhance the private oasis. Swimming ponds are also in and offer extensive opportunities for dealers to expand the segment still further.However, while the growth potential of the garden pond segment may be considerable, there are also risks that should not be overlooked. There's limited enthusiasm for the pond if the spring is too cold or the summer too wet, as has been the case in many countries in the last two years. Sales then tend to fall through the floor in some places. Even a heatwave such as several southern European countries experienced last year is detrimental to the development of a garden pond. Weather is a factor that pet product retailers cannot afford to omit from their calculations, and any dealer going in for the garden pond business should allow for one or more years in which the season literally falls flat. Those who lack the staying power or necessary funds to survive a long slack period shouldn't even embark on the venture.A high level of uncertainty has also been created in the pet product sector by the Koi Herpes Virus (KHV), which has been rife for a few years. The problem is that the virus is only detectable once it has already broken out, and the only way of detecting it is the so-called PCR method, in which virus DNA is detected in the fish tissue. However, since even this method is not 100 per cent reliable, there continues to be a major need for research in the diagnostics field. The sector has feared for some time that the European Union will move towards obligatory notification of KHV in koi stocks. Companies that are found to have infected koi might then have their entire operation closed down in serious cases if the affected carp are kept in a common area with freshwater fish, for example. But since this would result in high compensation claims by the companies concerned, Brussels is still holding back regarding any sweeping legislative changes.Even so, KHV has caused huge damage in some countries, with some suppliers of coldwater fish even withdrawing altogether from the koi trade. Anyone who does not have the space and technical facilities required to separate the stocks of fish from one another would perhaps do well to take this decision too, otherwise the existence of their business could be seriously jeopardised. Wholesalers that have specialised in the koi trade will probably not be spared a high level of investment in their equipment: only dealers that isolate their koi tanks completely from the rest of their system can be confident of ruling out any transfer of the virus.Concern is also growing in the retail trade. Experts are recommending that pet product retailers obtain their stock from a single source if possible, preferably from a trusted wholesaler. The latter should be able to guarantee to its customers that all its koi have been tested beforehand for KHV using the PCR method. If a retailer obtains his stock from just one source, this has the crucial advantage that if KHV were detected, it would be much easier to determine where it originated.On the other hand, it is fatal if dealers buy koi from different wholesalers and mix them together in pond sales tanks. If an outbreak of KHV should then occur, there would be no chance of discovering which stock the infected carp came from, and no chance of getting compensation from the koi supplier concerned. 
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