The overall lighting market has been “challenged” the past half decade with questionable, if any, sales growth. In fact, Channel Marketing Group’s Pulse of Lighting report, which we’ve conducted for 8 years, rarely has shown growth. Last quarter Acuity CEO Neil Ashe defined the market as “tepid.” The last Pulse of Lighting Report shared a flat market with “hope” for a better 2026.

While many would have expected between inflation, commodity price increases, electrical market growth during the early post-COVID years, and most recently tariffs that the market would have grown, at least from a price viewpoint … it hasn’t.

In fact, the cost / unit has probably declined. And with the overall construction market (resi and commercial) constrained, it doesn’t bode well for lighting. Historically the lighting market has been tied to new commercial construction. Further, the residential market, although small as a percentage of sales for the electrical industry, now invests less in lighting than ever before.

The “white goods” segment of the market is now a larger percentage than the architectural segment. “Value-engineering” is the name of the game. Holding specifications is more challenging than ever and manufacturers seek to streamline their offering as most clearly indicated by Acuity grouping its products into selected offerings (Contractor Select, Design Select, and Made-to-Order.)

Efficiency, in fixture performance as well as operationally, is the name of the game.

How Many Lighting Manufacturers is Too Many?

For years many have commented about the number of lighting suppliers in the industry, whether they sell through distribution or direct. The abundance of companies, coupled with the ease of sourcing / inputting and hence the lack of commitment to investment to be a lighting manufacturer gave rise to what is affectionately and euphemistically referred to as “ankle biters” or Tier 3/4/5 supplier. The price only companies that make investing in product development and efforts to grow the business challenging for many. This is due to the ease in sourcing.

While this persists, perhaps “over supply” in the industry is beginning to take effect and will result in the number of offerings being reduced.

Over the past year, we’ve noticed:

1. Some small architecturally-oriented companies closed including Elk Home / Elk Lighting, Porter Lighting and Utopia Lighting.
2. Others be acquired (think Progress and Kichler, Cooper and Nemalux, Kuzco and Insight Lighting, Axis and Picasso to name a few and LightNowBlog lists 11 manufacturer acquisitions in 2025 Q4), and
3. Some name-brand companies undergo “change”. This includes:

• Cree Lighting – Whatever is happening with Cree Lighting? What was heralded as an innovator of LED technology and fixtures when it was launched rose and has spectacularly crashed. It went through a couple of ownership changes and now seemingly is on perpetual furlough. Bringing the brand back will be a unique challenge, if even feasible.
• Halco acquired the permanent lighting Topaz business from Southwire
• Orbit has discontinued its lighting offering
• Morris Products got out of the lighting business

And there are some others that continue to be challenged to return to their glory days while companies such as Keystone, Rab and Satco continue to rise.

The Lighting Business Has Changed

The lighting business is changing. It still represents the 3^rd largest product category for most distributors (wire / cable, switchgear, and lighting in some order for construction-oriented distributors.) The technology is a challenge to the category’s growth, as compared to yesteryear, due to LED longevity. Selling lighting, rather than servicing lighting demand, requires understanding why and how to sell lighting controls as well as knowledge on selling lighting upgrades to those who already have LEDs installed that “work.”  As an industry we cannot enable LED longevity to suppress replacement demand. To grow, meaning more / better lighting being sold, lighting needs to be sold as something that adds to the physical experience than solely a cost / energy-efficiency play.

But maybe a first step is the continued shake-out of the competitive environment. Distributors, and contractors, play a critical role here … supporting companies that are investing in the future of the product category and the industry rather than seeking to drive price down … which results in winning business that has less profit dollars that can be invested back into the distributor’s business.

Perhaps what I’m saying is, “supporting brands supports your company’s profitability and secures the future.”

Just some food for thought.