LED lighting is seeing increased acceptance into the mainstream lighting market. This comes after energy cost concerns, an impetus to reduce CO2 and new legislative changes.

In 2013 non-domestic end users dominated with the market being highly reliant on total systems, new installations and upgrades. Infrastructure has been the leading sector within LED lighting with multiple councils replacing or planning to replace old street lighting for the considerable savings, reduced CO2 and increased replacement cycle.

Health, Education, Leisure and Entertainment sectors have markedly been the earliest adopters and are likely to continue in this vain in short to medium term. Retail use has grown tremendously, while office, industrial and domestic use will take longer to make the same progress.

75% of the LED lighting market in 2013 was made up by luminaires with the remaining market made up by replacement LED lamps and LED controls and accessories. Product development is a continued focus specifically in replacement and retrofit products, looking at greater efficiency and colour rendering.

Better understanding of the new technology by manufactures has led to a spike in direct sales; this will decrease in the long term. Large public sector projects are in part responsible for this as they have a tendency to source directly from the manufacturer. The share of specialist electrical distributors and wholesalers is anticipated to increase as the new technology becomes available more widely.

Prices have fallen over the past year due to growing number of sales, improved manufacturing techniques and increased competition in the market. LED products are still significantly more expensive than alternatives, which have restricted sales volume especially in the domestic sector.

LED lighting will benefit in the short-medium term from government cutbacks hitting budgets in the public sector which will prompt investment in technologies which reduce running costs long term.

The government has been promoting and implementing energy efficient products, while also introducing conservation and the monitoring of energy. Despite this the lack of product standards within the market has led to reduced consumer confidence after previous bad experiences. This could restrict growth in the short term.

“In the medium term, as the commercial and increasingly the domestic sectors utilise the new technology, with higher volumes of housing required and increasingly sophisticated, task orientated lighting used across all markets, LED lighting will see high volume growth supported by a wider range of sectors. We expect the market to grow rapidly until 2018, when it is estimated to be worth in excess of £1bn.” - Keith Taylor, Director of AMA Research.