In the last few years we have seen a huge rise in the amount of time and effort homeowners spend on their outdoor spaces, with gardens now commonly viewed as an additional room of the home.
There are many sources of inspiration on how to build and style the dream garden, from TV shows like Love Island to the many home and garden magazines available today. And, if our research is anything to go buy, homeowners are also particularly interested in using social media to research the right materials to complete their chosen look.
We recently explored at the top 100 hashtags that are associated with garden design, materials and features on Instagram, as well as reviewing our own sales data on the most popular products sold so far this year. We found that porcelain paving is one of the most sought-after products, with sales increasing by 20% between January and June this year, compared with the same period in 2022, and that there were nearly 30,000 hashtag mentions of #porcelainpaving in June 2023 alone.
Wood-effect porcelain is also rising in popularity, with 13% more sales in the first six months of the year than the same period last year, with lighter colours proving to be particularly desirable. Natural stone paving, sandstone paving, limestone paving and slate paving also made the top 15 most popular material hashtags featured on Instagram in June 2023.
| Category rank | Trend | Category | Instagram hashtag | Instagram hashtag uses as of 07/06/23 |
| 1 | Decking | Materials | #decking | 739,000 |
| 2 | Sleepers | Materials | #sleepers | 208,000 |
| 3 | Composite decking | Materials | #compositedecking | 141,000 |
| 4 | Block paving | Materials | #blockpaving | 62,200 |
| 5 | Porcelain paving | Materials | #porcelainpaving | 29,300 |
| 6 | Timber | Materials | #timberdecking | 19,500 |
| 7 | Concrete paving | Materials | #concretepaving | 10,000 |
| 8 | Composite fencing | Materials | #compositefencing | 5,000 |
| 9 | Brick paving | Materials | #brickpaving | 5,000 |
| 10 | Granite | Materials | #granitepaving | 5,000 |
| 11 | Natural stone paving | Materials | #naturalstonepaving | 5,000 |
| 12 | Sandstone paving | Materials | #sandstonepaving | 5,000 |
| 13 | Limestone paving | Materials | #limestonepaving | 1,000 |
| 14 | Iron fencing | Materials | #ironfencing | 500 |
| 15 | Slate paving | Materials | #slatepaving | 500 |
One of our experts at Jewson, Audra Lennox, explains that porcelain paving is very low maintenance, which could be part of its appeal. She says: “Natural sandstone is still in demand, but porcelain is becoming increasingly available in more sizes, colours and finishes, giving people a greater choice. There are also thinner porcelain tiles that come with a lower price tag, such as our new 16mm porcelain, and there’s been a lot of interest in these this year.
“Generally, porcelain is installed in the same way as natural stone, with the main difference being the use of a slurry primer to bond it to the mortar bed. This means it should be a straightforward option for tradespeople and builders to offer consumers who want to achieve this on-trend look in their gardens.”
If you are currently speaking to your customers about ways they can create their dream garden, consider sharing some images of how the right paving choice can transform the area. Typing #porcelainpaving into Instagram, for example, could help you to create a lookbook to share with your customers and spark some ideas for the type of project they want to undertake. For more ideas, check out our new landscaping guide.
