Essential Insights from the Q1 Pulse of Lighting Report
By Editorial
Review the key insights from the Pulse of Lighting report of our partner Channel Marketing. Released in the first week of April, the report has sparked significant concern about the first quarter’s performance, primarily due to: Q1 seasonally being the slowest for lighting.
- A decline in the commercial construction market
- Implications from distribution equipment challenges
- Weather
- Interest rates, and
- A general slowdown in the electrical industry.
Was Q1 going to be a further decline? It appears that Q3 and Q4 may have been the low point.
Q1 Pulse of Lighting Report revealed:
- Distributor performance diverged from manufacturer and rep / agent performance.
- Distributors projected almost mid-single digit performance whereas manufacturers and reps / agents had pretty much the opposite.
- Much of the difference can probably be attributed to distributors fulfilling backorders as well as serving small projects from stock.
- For manufacturers, there are “winners and losers”. Some are up, some are down.
- While in Q4 there was more destocking, it appears that stock inventories have stabilized. Almost half of the distributors have had some projects delayed.
- We heard of continuing issues with distribution equipment, Acuity and Cooper having success with product launches, price competitiveness, good quotation activity but longer sales cycles, a “choppy” construction market and more.
- Overall, the industry is not benefiting from price appreciation.
The good news …
- Each audience projects a better Q2, but not robust. It appears we’re returning to pre-pandemic industry performance.
- There is little confidence that there will be price increases from manufacturers and their sales organizations but a number of distributors either have hope or expect there to be.
- Key market segments to focus on are education, commercial retrofits, industrial segments, multi-family and healthcare.
If you did not participate and want a copy, it is available for only $35 by clicking here.
And make sure to watch ElectricalTrends for the next survey.
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Q4 Pulse of Lighting was Weak For Manufacturers; 2024 Projection – US Lighting Trends
Sluggish Pulse of Lighting in Q3; Acuity Reports – US Lighting Trends
