Pulse of the Q2 Lighting Market

As usual, the lighting market is active, so it must be time for our Q2 Pulse of Lighting update.

Active?

Consider:

• Acuity made two acquisitions this quarter that provide it greater technology resources – the Digital Signage business from ams OSRAM and Rockpiles Ventures, “an AI accelerator”, which may have been more of a deal to acquire people rather than product.
  • The Digital Signage deal appears to be an OEM play to potentially thwart someone else (Signify?) from buying the company, a way to strengthen its control / access on these components and reduce costs (unless they charge themselves an inter-company margin), potentially have insight into competitor offerings (since a number of smaller manufacturers are DS “partners” and this could force some of these companies to seek other, more “independent” suppliers)
• GE Current acquired Forum Lighting (reportedly the revenues were light, the company had challenges but there were multiple bidders) and launched its QuickStock program
• LSI made an acquisition which, surprisingly, diversifies them beyond lighting and gives them more of a vertical focus rather than a lighting focus. Based upon this article, LSI paid a “hefty” price to acquire Atlas and given the deal was 2017 and the impact of COVID and lighting’s “competitiveness”, the $57M in sales may have regressed.
• Philips hired Christy Tilton as its new sales leader
• Product delays continue due to chips not being available as factories reallocate production to higher value chips (and higher margin clients / industries)
• MaxLite, Light Efficient Design, Keystone Technologies and others are partnering with Retrolux, highlighting manufacturer focus on the ESCO market.

As well as some other smaller lighting acquisitions. There were also lighting agency mergers / acquisitions. And while lighting shows for late Q3 were cancelled, LightFair is still scheduled for New York in October.

And we haven’t even mentioned everyday things such as supply chain disruption (“When will material be available? Oh, you can’t commit to a timeline?”) and price changes (yes, again!) as there were some that were initiated in May.

These channel dynamics are also colliding with continued residential market growth, commercial construction and renovation projects coming back online due to the economic recovery, labor shortages in manufacturer facilities and more.

All portend for an active summer.

So, given this, what do you see as the current pulse of lighting? Take part in our Q2 Pulse of Lighting survey. Share your projected forecast for the quarter and what you see happening with your suppliers / distributors and in your market. All input is confidential. We’re share the report with respondents at the end of the month. It takes only 3 minutes and you get the pulse of the lighting market.

And if you didn’t see what we reported in Q1, here’s a synopsis.