Marie Parry, group marketing director at Scolmore Group, looks at the latest report on the UK lighting sector.   

According to the latest report by AMA Research - Lighting and LED Market Report - UK 2018-2022 - the UK lighting market was estimated to have increased by 44% on 2013 in value terms. The key driver for the lighting market is LED lighting which has gained significant share in the non-domestic sector and has started to make inroads into the domestic market. This technology is likely to promote a period of innovation and expansion particularly in terms of more integrated products, control and lighting solutions. Retro-fitting of efficient lamp products has been crucial to growth rates within the market, particularly the exponential growth of LED lighting. The trend for improving lighting quality, particularly the demand for "whiter" light in the private commercial sector has increased demand for higher value LED and fluorescent products.

The lamps market has recorded the highest level of growth in recent years and is expected to continue to outperform the market, due to the introduction of a wide range of replacement, higher value LED and low energy halogen products. As prices of these products fall considerably and penetration increases, this sector is expected to slow, further limited by increasing lifecycles of products reducing the replacement market.

Controls remain an important sector with high levels of growth and potential for this to continue. This reflects a sustained focus placed on efficiency and cost savings with organisations recognising the need to reduce unnecessary lighting provision.

Luminaires dominate the UK lighting market, although their overall share of the market is gradually declining in response to the high growth of other sectors, especially lamps. In the longer term, this trend is likely to reverse as more high value integrated products gaining ground in the market. Strong luminaire market growth has been underpinned by investment in street lighting, rising levels of house completions as well as improvements in construction output for both the domestic and non-domestic sectors.

Prospects for the UK lighting market remain positive, although more muted than recent history with annual growth rates of around 4-5% to 2022. There is potential for growth from the domestic sector as the take-up of LED systems offers increased scope for a reduction in energy-use, improved controls, and as technology prices fall and awareness of benefits increases. As users become used to longer lifecycles of lamps and shift views away from them being throw away products, they are likely to start moving towards integrated products, supporting the luminaire sector. Despite the increased demand for LED technologies there has been an oversupply to the global market, especially from developing countries and China. As a result, the global prices of LEDs have fallen significantly and are likely to continue to decline to some extent as wider usage results in more competition.