Few categories have shifted more obviously over the last decade than outdoor living. Buyers across the trade already know customers no longer arrive looking for a six-seater dining set and a parasol. The harder question for 2027 ranging decisions is which parts of the category will keep growing, which are reaching a plateau, and where the traditional anchors are evolving into something more sophisticated. Walking the show floor at SOLEX or Glee this year, the patterns worth tracking ahead of the next buying cycle are starting to come into focus.

Outdoor cooking moves further from the kettle barbecue

Outdoor cooking remains the most active sub-category, and the direction is towards permanence, fuel variety and a wider range of formats. Pizza ovens have moved beyond the gift-shop end into serious mid-priced and premium fixtures, and integrated outdoor kitchen modules are appearing in suppliers’ premium lines rather than only as bespoke builds. Hybrid gas-and-wood units, multi-zone grills with smarter temperature control, and modular kitchen ranges that let customers add a side burner or pizza oven later are likely to be the standout new products for 2027. SOLEX 26’s Loving Outdoor Living area, where BBQ manufacturers demonstrate grills, smokers, pizza ovens and firepits live, signals where the trade is pushing the category for the 2027 season.

Sustainability moves from marketing claim to material spec

Across outdoor living, what was a soft eco message two years ago is becoming a hard buying criterion. Customers buying a teak dining set, a pergola or weatherproof cushions are scrutinising materials, packaging and provenance more closely, and they want answers in product terms rather than brand language. For 2027 ranges, that means verifiable credentials in the outdoor categories specifically: FSC-certified hardwoods for furniture and structures, recycled PET in outdoor textiles and rope-weave seating, powder-coated aluminium frames with high recycled content, and finishes specified down to the VOC level. The next step is likely to be visible at point of sale: 2027 looks like the year FSC chain-of-custody numbers, recycled-content percentages and material origin start appearing on swing tickets and shelf-edge labels rather than only in supplier brochures. Buyers who can ask suppliers for the paperwork, and merchandise the answer on the shop floor, will out-sell those leaning on a generic green badge. This connects to the broader evolution of garden centres into lifestyle hubs, where outdoor living is judged against the same standards customers apply to the rest of the home.

Year-round usability is the new spec sheet

Weather resistance has overtaken style as the first question many customers ask, and it is reshaping which outdoor furniture and seating ranges are worth backing for 2027. Open-cell foam cushions that drain rather than retain water, premium fabrics rated for permanent outdoor use, and frame materials engineered to live outside through a British winter are expected at the upper-mid price points, not just at the top of the range. The 2025 HTA data made the commercial case: sales of garden features and structures were up 44% year on year through March, with stronger barbecue and outdoor furniture performance pushing average transaction value up 6%. Year-round usability supports the price points where ATV growth is happening, and justifies dedicating shelf space to outdoor living through autumn and winter rather than packing it down in September.

Pergolas now reward centres that lead the conversation

Pergolas are not new, but the product is changing meaningfully. Louvered and bioclimatic pergolas with adjustable roof systems, integrated lighting, retractable side screens and built-in heating are becoming the reference point at the premium end of the structures category, and customer questions are getting more detailed in step. Conversations now involve planning permission, siting, wind ratings and aftercare, and customers expect the centre to either answer or signpost. This is where being the in-aisle specialist matters most, and where centre credibility is built or lost in a single conversation. Good suppliers are increasingly publishing the technical detail their trade customers need to sell with confidence. Suns Lifestyle’s guide to pergola planning permission in the UK covers conservation areas, listed buildings and height limits in the detail customers now expect, the kind of resource that helps a centre’s team answer with confidence rather than caveat. For 2027 ranging, the structures aisle is where ATV growth is most concentrated, and the supplier conversations matter accordingly.

Heating and lighting close the outdoor room

The categories that finish the outdoor living spend are heating and lighting, and both are widening at the trade level. Fire tables doubling as ambience and heat source, infrared heaters specified for covered structures, and chimineas at the more traditional end are now expected across price tiers rather than confined to the top end. Fire tables in particular are migrating out of the decorative budget and into the structural-heat budget customers set when planning a covered pergola or outdoor kitchen. Outdoor lighting is moving the same way, with low-voltage festoon, designed-in solar and smart-controlled systems all sliding into mainstream ranges, and lighting increasingly specified into the structure at point of sale rather than added as an afterthought. Treating these as supporting categories to a structure or furniture room-set, rather than standalone aisles, is what unlocks the basket add-on for 2027.

Looking to 2027

The buyers most likely to capture the next season’s growth are treating SOLEX 26 and Glee 26 as more than diary fillers. Sample the cushion fabrics. Ask about FSC chain-of-custody paperwork. Watch a pizza oven demo end to end. The real point of the visit is to build genuine category knowledge that filters down through the team, so staff on the shop floor can hold an informed conversation with a customer thinking about a £3,000 louvered pergola or a built-in outdoor kitchen. That is increasingly what sets the centres winning in outdoor living apart. On the show floor, the question is which parts of the category to back hardest, and the 2027 answer comes down to whoever has done the homework.

By Dakota Murphey