The Development Status of Commercial Lighting from the Perspective of the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition
Introduction:
2011 was undoubtedly a year of transformation and upgrading for China's economy and society. The lighting industry, as a sunrise industry of the new century, has grown from nothing to something, from small to large. Over the past 20 years, we have progressed from bringing things in to going global, experiencing countless twists and hardships.
2011 will undoubtedly become a remarkable year for China's lighting industry. At this time, the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition has been elevated to the world's largest lighting exhibition. Its grand conclusion has brought much inspiration and guidance to the industry. Among them, the development trend of commercial lighting has also attracted the attention of various industry professionals. In view of this, a reporter from Aladdin Lighting Network, from the perspective of an industry observer, researcher, and witness, makes a prediction based on the development trends reflected in the 2011 exhibition, aiming to offer a modest contribution to invite better suggestions, hoping to inspire more thoughts among industry professionals about the future of commercial lighting.
LED Helps Commercial Lighting Enter a Golden Development Period
The LED industry has placed its development focus on the lighting industry, which means that lighting fixtures will be an important area for the future development of LED. When it comes to the lighting industry, one cannot help but mention LED; when it comes to commercial lighting, LED lighting is everywhere. Its emergence has sparked many disputes and a wide variety of opinions. However, regardless of outside opinions, the development of LED lighting continues to move forward at high speed. It must be acknowledged that LED lighting has become a trend for the future development of the industry. With a force as swift as lightning, it has swept across the entire lighting industry.
Currently, LED commercial lighting products have entered a stable development stage. From a technical perspective, LEDs have obvious advantages when applied in the commercial lighting field, including energy saving, long lifespan, instant startup, and high color rendering. Traditional lighting fixtures used in commercial lighting include incandescent lamps, halogen lamps, fluorescent lamps, energy-saving lamps, and metal halide lamps, etc.; LED fixtures can well replace incandescent and halogen lamps, with an energy-saving ratio of over 90%, and a lifespan 50 times that of these traditional fixtures. Among traditional fixtures, the luminous efficacy of high-efficiency energy-saving lamps is 50-60lm/W, while the luminous efficacy of LEDs can already reach 100lm/W, and the utilization efficiency of LED fixtures is higher than that of energy-saving lamps; therefore, the energy-saving ratio is as high as over 60%.
LED commercial lighting products are continuously replacing traditional commercial lighting products. Compared with traditional commercial lighting products, their advantages are quite evident: 1. Long lifespan; 2. High luminous efficacy, energy saving and environmental protection; 3. Environmentally friendly; 4. No flicker; 5. No radiation and low power consumption; 6. Rich colors. However, relatively speaking, LED commercial lighting also has some disadvantages: 1. High price; 2. The heat dissipation issue needs to be addressed as a priority. The reason why LED products have not been able to expand the LED commercial lighting field on a large scale is largely due to the impact of price, but it is believed that the large-scale entry of LEDs into the LED commercial lighting field in the future is an inevitable result.
Admittedly, the development of LED in commercial lighting brings both opportunities and challenges to many LED companies. For companies to develop steadily, product quality must be guaranteed; in addition, the design of lighting fixtures and the power control system are also very critical for LED fixture manufacturers. Many industry insiders believe that everyone is optimistic about the commercial LED lighting market, and commercial lighting also plays a demonstrative role in promoting LED lighting in other fields.
The atmosphere and feel of a commercial space are extremely important; lighting can create substantial profits for businesses. In the future, the replacement of traditional fixtures by LEDs in commercial spaces will become increasingly mature, and the stability of LED products will be further improved. For those within the LED industry, the key factor determining whether the LED lighting industry can be driven forward is price. This is especially sensitive when it comes to the consumer sector. Therefore, providing high-quality, affordable LED fixtures will be the key for enterprises to drive the development of the LED commercial lighting market going forward.
The lighting market is a long-standing market, one could say a century-old market. How to develop oneself in such a market and build a century-old enterprise is worth deep consideration. After experiencing numerous twists and turns, commercial lighting is now facing entirely new possibilities. It is also hoped that, while LED lighting continues to develop, enterprises can grow in an orderly manner, and LED will help commercial lighting enter a golden period of development.
Commercial Lighting Companies Actively Explore the Low-Carbon Field
Low-carbon environmental protection is a major trend in the development of the entire planet, and a major trend in human development. Global warming gave rise to the concept of a low-carbon economy by 2003. What impresses us deeply is the Copenhagen Climate Forum, which pushed green and low-carbon to a very high level. From the perspective of sustainable development, our country has also established a national development strategy for a low-carbon society. Looking at it now, production methods, lifestyles, and values have all undergone significant changes in terms of low-carbon environmental protection, which is also a major trend.
In commercial lighting, low-carbon lighting cannot be ignored, and many leading commercial lighting companies are also actively exploring the low-carbon field. Creating a lighting environment in commercial spaces must attach importance to the high efficiency and energy-saving functions of lighting equipment. In the initial planning and design stage of commercial buildings, the concept of overall lighting energy saving should be introduced, with reasonable selection of light sources, reasonable use of natural lighting, reasonable design of spatial illumination, and reasonable control and management of lighting systems. When lighting enterprises begin to plan commercial lighting design solutions, they first need to understand the culture and spirit of the project area. The main purpose of commercial lighting design is, on the one hand, to shape the image of the place itself and strengthen its cultural and product characteristics; on the other hand, to attract customers' attention, make products the focus, and at the same time create a lighting environment that is both comfortable and dramatic.
For those in the lighting industry, the real competition lies in how to achieve better lighting effects with more energy-efficient methods. In this regard, to better achieve lighting effects, LED products offer the practicality of energy conservation and environmental protection. Close communication and cooperation among commercial lighting enterprises, designers, and owners is crucial. Providing a complete lighting design solution is also a development service that commercial lighting enterprises need to strengthen and consider. During the sales period of lighting products, what matters most is creating attractive light. In this regard, commercial lighting design should not merely stay at seeking the balance between accent lighting and general lighting, but should seek the rendering of indoor atmosphere. The creation of commercial lighting environments requires consideration of many factors, but only by skillfully combining the technology and art of lighting can outstanding lighting effects be achieved. From this perspective, the versatility and intelligence of LED have unique advantages in commercial scenario lighting.
Intelligent Market: Who Will Reign Supreme?
The rapid development and profound changes that China's economy and society are undergoing have brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges to the commercial lighting industry, as well as to intelligent lighting technology.
The development of intelligent lighting technology can make lighting more energy-saving and efficient, providing the most comfortable and efficient lighting where and when needed, while enhancing the quality of the lighting environment. This is the essence of lighting, and intelligent lighting is an important direction that further advances lighting towards green and sustainable development.
In commercial lighting, the use of intelligent control offers numerous advantages:
1. Fully Automatic Dimming
The smart lighting control system can operate in a fully automatic state. The system has several basic states, which automatically switch between each other according to preset times, and automatically adjust the illuminance to the most suitable level.
2. Energy Saving During Operation
The smart lighting control system can intelligently dim most luminaires (including incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps, sodium lamps equipped with special ballasts, mercury lamps, neon lamps, etc.), providing sufficient lighting to places that need it, at the times when it is needed. By promptly turning off unnecessary luminaires and making full use of natural light, its energy-saving effect during operation is substantial. Implementing smart lighting control can generally save 20–40% of electrical energy, which not only reduces user electricity expenses but also eases the pressure on the power supply.#p#分頁標題#e#
3. Extending Light Source Lifespan
As is well known, the main cause of light source damage is grid overvoltage. Properly reducing the operating voltage can extend the lifespan of light sources. The intelligent lighting control system adopts a soft-start method, which can control grid surge voltage and impulse voltage, protecting the filament from thermal shock, thereby extending the lifespan of light sources by 2–4 times. This is of particular significance for areas with extensive use of light sources and difficult installation. In short, the combination of intelligent technology and lighting technology has built a comprehensive technical platform, fully interpreting the concepts of green and sustainable lighting such as energy saving, low consumption, long lifespan, operational efficiency, and people-orientation.
For the vast majority of users, intelligent lighting is nothing less than a revolution of light. The changes it brings to our lives will far exceed our imagination. However, for Chinese lighting enterprises, it represents a test that must be faced before leaping forward. Chinese lighting enterprises, standing at the forefront, need to achieve transformation and development with innovative thinking in order to better establish themselves and grow. At present, green lighting has been officially included in the national plan, and the concept of prioritizing energy savings at the end-user level has taken root deeply in people's minds. Intelligent lighting is undoubtedly an effective means of controlling energy consumption, reflecting a modern lifestyle, and optimizing the working environment.
We look forward to a not-too-distant future when intelligent lighting can fully enter commercial lighting and people's daily lives, allowing Chinese lighting enterprises to see another ray of hope for development.
Field Segmentation Increasingly Reflects Professionalism
Consumers' brand awareness continues to grow, and commercial lighting enterprises are beginning to engage in brand cooperation with related industries across a broader range of fields. Brand segmentation is becoming increasingly evident. In order to cater to changes in consumers' purchasing concepts and tastes, merchants are also constantly innovating their products and sales strategies. The main battleground for market competition among commercial lighting enterprises has shifted from distribution channels to home decoration companies, engineering projects, and mass consumer markets. Industry insiders say this marks commercial lighting enterprises stepping one foot into the realm of mass brands.
Being market-oriented, responding to market demand, and delving deep into the market is currently the breakthrough point being fiercely competed for in the commercial lighting field. In recent years, the domestic commercial lighting field has seen a battle for professional segments differentiated by product functions. Commercial lighting leaders represented by Philips, NVC Lighting, Jiamei, and Xidun have been actively pursuing breakthroughs in professional fields, continuously developing in-depth cooperation with various sectors including apparel, jewelry, medical care, and hotels, hoping to capture a larger market share. In fact, the expansion of these channels relies, to a considerable extent, on the comprehensive strength of the enterprise and systematic service solutions, which poses greater challenges to brand companies.
Currently, Philips Lighting subdivides commercial lighting into specialized lighting fields such as apparel, commercial supermarkets, office, education, hospital, and hotel. Depending on the field, the brand service department provides professional lighting design solutions for that area. Xidun Lighting also has a corresponding key account department, and typically subdivides commercial lighting into commercial display, public facilities, hotel, and office segments. It can be foreseen that the comprehensive strength of commercial lighting enterprises will become the core competitiveness in the future market.
Performance may only reflect the past; the strong players in commercial lighting are more concerned about the future. As more and more rising stars seize market share, the development of the commercial lighting market is becoming increasingly severe. Will the rapid growth of the market come to an abrupt halt? To lead the industry, companies need to make continuous efforts!
Market Channels Penetrating Toward Diversification
For commercial lighting brands with "outlets" and "sales volume" as their main sales pillars, the diversification of sales channels directly determines the development strength of their brand. With the arrival of the peak sales season in the lighting market, major commercial lighting brands have begun to take the initiative, launching brand promotion and diversified cooperation. The presence of well-known commercial lighting brands in the industry can be found at major building materials and apparel exhibitions, and the in-depth cooperation between major brands and designers and home decoration companies continues to expand. Channel diversification has become the focus of attention for more and more enterprises; it will further deepen brand promotion and channel penetration, opening up new commercial lighting sales channels. The diversified development of sales models is precisely the source that drives the active advancement of this market.
E-commerce will fully enter the commercial lighting industry. With the rise of online shopping, channel flattening will be irreversible, and traditional channels will inevitably trigger a wave of website construction. According to Taobao data, online sales of lighting products in China reached over 12 billion yuan in 2010, and are expected to exceed 50 billion yuan in 2011, forming a 7:1 market ratio with traditional channels. However, the sales ratio between traditional channels and online sales for lighting products in the UK is 3:7.
With the advent of e-commerce, the business formats of the sales market will undergo new changes. Provincial general agents in traditional channels will be impacted by the downward shift of manufacturers' warehouses. In the future, the industry will add a new format of e-commerce offline service provider to the three basic distribution models of the past: store retail, logistics wholesale, and project contracting.
Enterprises Focus on Designer Resources
Commercial lighting has increasingly evolved into a marketing tool. Whether it is an island counter in a department store, an independent shop, a coffee shop, or a tea restaurant, the importance of commercial lighting is self-evident. Many owners feel at a loss when preparing to decorate their counters and shops. At this point, an excellent lighting designer becomes crucial!
Contextual ambient lighting creates personalized shop spaces. The lighting atmosphere required for a toy store and a SPA club is different, and the lighting planning for different zones of the same store is also different—entrance, window display, counters, central islands, shelves, mannequins, store floor, auxiliary areas, etc. Each zone can select matching contextual lighting based on atmosphere creation, illumination control, consumer psychology, and architectural coordination.
For example, a coffee bar in a commercial plaza, on the designer's recommendation, selected the higher-end Philips Ruiya M16 downlights for the shop's ambient wall lighting. Since the coffee bar's customers are mostly residents of upscale communities, this created a luxurious yet minimalist atmosphere. At a trendy gaming products store, we saw the designer apply Philips Ruili bracket lights to highlight the display counters and the trendy, colorful aspects of the products.
"Master the strategy of general lighting, accent lighting, and ambient lighting, and the commercial lighting outline of a store will emerge," said a lighting designer. "Of course, commercial lighting is both science and art. Commercial lighting must well express brand personality, attract customers' attention, create a warm yet stylized atmosphere, and articulate its own fashion proposition. It also requires the artistic creation of lighting designers."
Celebrity Endorsements Flood In
With the vigorous development of the lighting industry, the importance of brand building among commercial lighting companies has become a consensus in the industry. They also recognize that competition in the lighting industry has evolved from product competition and price competition to brand competition. However, there is great confusion in the industry about how to perfectly transform their brands. Many companies believe that celebrity endorsements, CCTV advertisements, and the introduction of CIS constitute brand building, while commercial lighting brands remain perplexed about how to break through.
In 2011, looking at the exhibition venue of the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition, celebrity posters were dazzling. Especially for commercial lighting companies, they put a lot of effort into their appearance. The benefits celebrities can bring to brands are determined by the essence of advertising. The power of advertising over consumers is, in summary, a sense of consumption security and identity, even fanaticism toward the brand. This attribute of trust and fanaticism is precisely what celebrities possess. A previous survey showed that nearly 80% of the advertisements broadcast by CCTV in recent years are celebrity endorsement ads. For small brands to sell well, attaching themselves to a big celebrity seems to be the most obvious approach, while the combination of big brands and big celebrities is seen as a matter of course. This move has also led to numerous deficiencies in celebrity endorsements in the commercial lighting industry. Celebrity endorsements have different values for different lighting companies—some are aimed at quickly increasing brand and product awareness, others at building and improving brand image—but their purpose is to leverage the celebrity's own popularity and exposure as a way to promote the brand and product. The targeting should align with the company's development strategy and should not be a short-term action. #p#Page Title#e#
Obviously, the creativity and expression of advertising appeals determine the quality of communication. Many lighting companies in the industry tend to "value celebrities over appeals," believing that having a celebrity is everything and that mediocre ad performance doesn't matter. The lack of emphasis on advertising appeals turns ads into celebrity showcases, with products relegated to a secondary position and corporate brand image losing points. Currently, lighting companies in the industry, especially commercial lighting companies, lack deep integration of PR planning and efforts to explore the marginal effects of celebrities. Celebrity endorsements can be summed up in one sentence: use them wisely, and they will complement each other!
Market characteristics: Tier-1 seeks scale, Tier-2 seeks uniqueness, Tier-3 seeks survival
In fact, since 1999, the development of domestic commercial lighting has been changing with each passing day, full of brilliance. Successful enterprises advance triumphantly; new enterprises follow one after another. Commercial lighting has always been a major highlight of the domestic lighting industry, taking a big step forward every year. However, the overall situation of domestic commercial lighting has remained in a "difficult battle period" for years.
Today, the pattern of domestic commercial lighting development has gradually become clear and formed. Some people summarize this pattern as "Tier-1 seeks scale, Tier-2 seeks uniqueness, Tier-3 seeks survival," especially "Tier-1 seeks scale, Tier-2 seeks uniqueness" has become the main theme and major trend of current commercial lighting development.
That being the case, in the relatively long period ahead, the outcome of development in the domestic commercial lighting sector will continue to interpret this overall pattern. Specifically, first-tier brands such as Philips, 雷士, and 三雄 will grow stronger, with sales volumes and market shares steadily increasing; second-tier brands such as 嘉美, 西顿, and 凯乐斯 will each have their own characteristics, continuously growing bigger and stronger.
表面上看，这种趋势是企业和企业家的策略所致;深层次看，这种趋势其实是由“上帝”——消费者的消费需求决定的。国内经济的高速发展，商业活动空前繁荣，决定了市场空间的丰富多彩，也就决定了商业照明场景对照明的要求不是千篇一律，而是变化万千，无限丰富。
事实上，国内多数市场竞争激烈、行业发展成熟的行业，如家电行业等，早就经历过、或者正在经历着这样的总体格局时期，而我们国内商业照明领域可以说是才刚刚走到这一步。其实，从营销的角度来理解这个大趋势的必然性并不难。
营销学上，通常把市场分为主流市场和次主流市场。那么，什么叫主流市场?量大面广的大路货就是主流市场。什么样的人消费大路货?中间阶层和中间偏下的阶层。由此可见，并不是所有的消费者都认为大路货能满足他们的需求，也正是有人对主流市场产品有各种各样的不满意，才产生了次主流市场。
这里，主流市场对应的是商业照明的一线品牌，产品对应的是商业照明的大路货——大众化的产品;次主流市场对应的是商业照明的二线品牌，产品对应的差异化的特色产品。
Leading Enterprises Make a Strong Push into the Commercial Lighting Market
As the saying goes, "It is easy for circumstances to create a hero, but difficult for a hero to create circumstances." In the vast army of commercial lighting, how many enterprises have marched triumphantly, dominating the lighting industry and amazing the world; yet how many others have been pushed off the single-log bridge leading to success. The culling by the times has also given rise to numerous strong enterprises in the field of commercial lighting.
Philips: Lighting Inspiration for Commerce. As a global leader in the lighting industry, Philips adheres to the philosophy of "light effortlessly enhances life," combining the changing shopping trends of Chinese consumers with the concept of scene-based lighting. Leveraging continuously evolving lighting technology, Philips has launched a variety of lighting solutions that meet user needs, pursue refinement, and keep pace with trends. Outstanding overall lighting can bring wonderful and unique sensory enjoyment while shopping. Letting the brand transcend the product itself to become a lifestyle choice perfectly illustrates Philips' long-held philosophy of "light effortlessly enhances life." Philips has always believed that inspiration comes from life, and that all product innovation must be "people-oriented," with a deep understanding of consumer and market demands. Philips' series of solutions serving commercial lighting embodies this unremitting pursuit and represents the future direction of the industry.
NVC: Commercial lighting is an industry segment first created by NVC in 1999. Its mission is to use modern, innovative lighting products to provide excellent lighting application solutions for clients' commercial service venues, creating environments that are comfortable for customers and that create value for businesses. NVC's distinctive, high-quality commercial lighting product series has always been welcomed by the market, thereby establishing its position as a leading brand of commercial lighting in China.
PAK: Founded in 1991, PAK has always been committed to developing and producing high-quality, premium green energy-saving lighting products. From the R&D of its first electronic ballast to the development of a full range of high-efficiency energy-saving products; from a traditional product manufacturer to a service provider offering comprehensive lighting solutions, PAK has been dedicated to building a leading brand in the industry. During this period, it has developed four major product categories—indoor, outdoor, and decorative lighting, as well as electrical products—with over two thousand varieties encompassing all kinds of lamps, light sources, electrical products, and electrical accessories. The company has now grown into a large green energy-saving enterprise with five major production bases and an annual production capacity of tens of millions of sets, becoming one of the most comprehensively competitive brands in the domestic industry.
PINS Lighting: Founded in 2004, PINS Lighting is a professional lighting company integrating production, R&D, and sales. Its products cover five major categories: commercial lighting, home lighting, architectural electrical, outdoor lighting, and light source & electrical appliances. Centered on the core brand strategy of "Smart in Application," it has built the "Light Wisdom Application System" service platform, providing systematic lighting services across five dimensions—product design, product manufacturing, customer service, lighting design, and after-sales service—for high-star hotel lighting, large shopping mall lighting, apparel chain lighting, and fine-decoration real estate lighting. It also serves a broad range of fields including fine-decoration real estate, hospitals, finance, furniture chain stores, ceramic chain stores, entertainment venue lighting, and many others.
Conclusion:
Technology will eventually trigger revolutionary changes in China's lighting industry. Just as LED has swept through the lighting industry, we still cannot scientifically predict what greater impact the continuous improvement of future products will have on commercial lighting. How to transform China's 5,000-year cultural resources into a cultural industry, and how the future lighting industry can achieve leapfrog and even surpassing development—all of this provides the best conditions and the greatest opportunity at this very moment.
"The trend of the times is irresistible: those who follow it prosper, those who resist it perish." As for the commercial lighting field of China's lighting industry, what is the trend? And how should one follow the trend rather than rebel against it? In a nutshell, the development of commercial lighting enterprises requires solid, down-to-earth work and continuous innovation!