In the lighting world, Q2 started with LEDucation in mid-April and, while the business seems to be steady, for most it appears to be “unremarkable.” And we’re launching the 2026 Q2 Pulse of Lighting survey to verify.

What does “unremarkable” mean in the lighting world?

We’ve heard:

• “Steady”
• “Lots of requoting, and requoting, and requoting.”
• The business is more retrofit than new construction
• Lighting opportunities for data centers
• Residential, especially single family, is essentially “dead” except for high-end fixtures (niche market). Some areas seem to have a strong multi-family market, but this seems to be a southern thing
• The infrastructure market is good, but this is typically projects that have been in development over time.
• There are opportunities being created by product failures from “gen 1” lighting. In some cases, it involves component replacement (if available), in others it generates a retrofit opportunity (if the salesperson is able to convince the customer.”

And we’ve heard some other tidbits, but this is also in light of

• Observations from LEDucation. I attended through US Lighting Trends, a service of Channel Marketing Group, and we have two articles – one on marketplace feedback and one on product observations.
• Lighting agent acquisitions (in fact, two so far this month – Infinity Architectural Lighting in Florida being sold to FRM and Trinity Sales Group acquiring Lumens by Burns. These two are the latest as this sector is consolidating as fast as the electrical distributor market. Some is attributable to generational issues. Perhaps more is the nature of the business with limited anchor manufacturers, a stagnant lighting market nationally, increased manufacturer expectations, increased operating costs, changing service models, and the increased role (and understanding) of technology throughout the business. There is much flux here.
• Cree Lighting’s saga came to an official end. The furlough is no longer. A name that meant innovation ended up meaning “mismanaged.”
• And there have been some small manufacturers that have been acquired with probably the most notable being Phoenix Lighting’s acquisition of Rig-A-Lite.

There is also discussions about the changing role of the lighting agent. I’ll be speaking to this at the NEMRA Lighting Summit.

With all of this as a background … our 2026 Q2 Pulse of Lighting survey is now open.

The survey, which takes only 1-2 minutes, is open to distributors, manufacturers, reps, and lighting agents. We’re asking how Q2 has been, market observations, and about some potential trends. All input is confidential and is aggregated. Respondents can request a free copy of the report, which is available at the end of the month.

Typically, each quarter we receive feedback from about 200 people in the industry, and, over the past 8 years, the aggregate feedback has correlated pretty well to market perception and publicly held manufacturer performance.

Please share a minute or two of your time and click here … I need your feedback by June 18^th.

And if you take the survey and would like a copy of the Q1 report, reach out and I’ll send you a copy … till the 18^th.