Whether it be offices or school hallways, city streets, driveways or homes, lighting plays a much-needed and valued role in our lives, affecting everything from our physical safety to our mental well-being. Accordingly, the lighting industry is a dynamic one, peopled with innovators addressing a variety of trends including aesthetics, energy efficiency, sustainability, functionality and user experience.
Observing developments through an extensive list of clients populating the industry, global marketing agency AMBI revealed their list of the top five key insights and trends in the current landscape of the lighting industry through the halfway point of 2024.
Trend 1: Concerning sustainability, actions speak louder than words
AMBI observes that while many lighting brands talk up their sustainability game, not all are actually walking it. Brands that are “actively making strides towards holistically sustainable practices” can expect to make strides in the marketplace.
Trend 2: Growing integrated spaces and tech
Integrated spaces that are “carefully designed to adapt to human needs” and emphasize productivity, wellness and comfort (such as circadian lighting) have become an integral element in planning.
Trend 3: Blending nature with light
AMBI has observed clients paying more attention to a blurring boundary between indoor and outdoor environments through lighting, creating more holistic and harmonious spaces within built environs.
Trend 4: The embracing of architecturally forward lighting
Once seen as a staple of luxury lighting brands, industry-wide lighting fixtures are serving more prominent roles as aesthetic focal points in spaces, combining function with style.
Trend 5: Finding the balance between price, progress and policy
As governments enact regulatory policies curbing energy consumption and carbon emissions, the industry finds itself having to develop products that meet policy requirements while still maintaining customer affordability.
“Electrical contractors are central to enabling the aesthetic and functional outcomes today’s trends are driving, especially relating to controls systems,” said Will Sears, founder and CEO of AMBI. “The more sophisticated the design vision, the more technologically savvy electrical contractors will have to become to know how to make the desired outcomes come to life. Electrical contractors have always risen to these challenges, and the exciting, lucrative projects trends are driving will make it worth their while.”
Innovation and adaptation will be key tenets for the industry in the second half of 2024 and beyond. Both will be vital in maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
