Q1 Lighting Report Indicates Areas of Concern
According to the results of the newly released 2026 Q1 Pulse of Lighting Report, available from Channel Marketing Group, new construction of large architectural projects has been struggling to get underway compared to small to mid-sized projects that involve retrofit work.
While the outlook may have been tempered by the start of air strikes on Iran on February 28, there is no doubt that business in certain areas of the lighting industry has been softening over the last two quarters.
That said, there are areas of potential growth. “Some distributors are realizing opportunities in pursuing renovations from gen 1 LED projects as users experience warranty issues, degradation of quality of light, driver replacement issues,” noted David Gordon, principal of Channel Marketing Group, who shared his take-aways with Electrical Trends, adding, “Looking forward, [respondents] are projecting low single digit growth for Q2. …There are macroeconomic concerns due to the war, higher fuel costs, expected inflation, questions on tariffs and the potential for price increases due to supplier raw materials (steel, aluminum, transportation costs).”
In this most recent Pulse of Lighting survey, respondents were also asked about their companies’ use of AI technology, specifically which application areas are they using it and whether they have a corporate governance policy in place.
To learn the full details of these topics, plus find out which market segments are seeing the most success, which are offering opportunity, and where there has been a decrease in activity, download the full Q1 Pulse of Lighting Report here.
