Non-replacement lamps emerge, LED bulbs face new challenges

So far, lighting companies have been committed to the LED bulb business, and have been competing fiercely to quickly seize the market for "bulb sockets" such as E26 for ordinary bulbs and E17 for small krypton gas bulbs. This competition will continue in the future, but manufacturers will also focus on the G13 socket of straight tube fluorescent lamps and ceiling lamps used to install lighting fixtures on the ceiling. The goal is to replace straight tube fluorescent lamps for office buildings and round fluorescent lamps for homes. However, in the case of LED bulbs, the winner can be determined only by price and specifications, while straight tube LED lamps also require modifications to the lighting fixtures installed, and LED ceiling lamps require product planning to increase product attractiveness to compensate for the higher price. It is estimated that the competition between companies will be different from that when LED bulbs were launched.

The reason why major lighting manufacturers are shifting their focus from LED bulbs to straight-tube LED lamps and LED ceiling lamps is that the LED bulb product lineups of various companies are already very rich. In addition, the Japan Light Bulb Industry Association has set standards for straight-tube LED lamps, which has prompted large lighting manufacturers to launch more products. Therefore, companies such as Panasonic Electric, Toshiba Lighting Technology, Hitachi, NEC Lighting, and Mitsubishi Electric Osram have exhibited straight-tube LED lamps that support the same standards at this lighting exhibition.

As for ceiling lamps used as the main lighting for households, in order to realize LED after light bulbs, various manufacturers are accelerating the pace to expand their product lineup. In addition to the existing products exhibited by major manufacturers at the lighting exhibition, Toshiba Lighting Technology also exhibited new products and development products, and Hitachi Electric also exhibited prototypes of LED ceiling lamps. However, it is estimated that the focus of competition among manufacturers in straight tube LED lamps and LED ceiling lamps will be different from that in LED bulbs. LED bulbs belong to the consumable replacement business, which is used to replace incandescent bulbs installed in lighting fixtures, and their sales form also adopts the sales model of mass merchandisers. Moreover, their competitiveness basically depends on the specifications such as price and brightness of a single product, so manufacturers are more worry-free.

However, this is not the case with straight tube LED lamps and LED ceiling lamps. Straight tube LED lamps are consumables used to replace straight tube fluorescent lamps, similar to LED bulbs. However, due to different standards, lighting fixtures must be modified, so the hypermarket sales model cannot be adopted. Existing fixtures need to be modified with parts prepared by the manufacturer, and then straight tube LED lamps need to be installed. Cooperation with construction companies is also very important. In addition, although the products have been standardized, the power circuit is installed on the lighting fixture side, so sometimes the performance changes due to the incompatibility of the power circuit and straight tube LED lamps. In other words, the cost and performance of lighting fixtures cannot be determined by only considering straight tube LED lamps.

LED ceiling lights are not simple either. This product is similar to LED bulbs in that consumers can buy them from mass merchandisers and install them easily. However, LED bulbs are only light source components, while LED ceiling lights are products that combine light source components with lighting fixtures. The appeal of LED bulbs is that the product life cycle cost (the cost of purchasing the bulb within a certain period and the electricity cost required to turn on the light) is lower than that of incandescent bulbs, so the market has expanded. However, LED ceiling lights are burdened by the heavy price of lighting fixtures, and the product life cycle cost is difficult to reduce. Moreover, it is not easy to promote the low price of LED ceiling lights.

The reason is that the lifespan of the LED light source component of LED ceiling lights is basically the same as that of lighting fixtures, so the replacement parts market cannot be expected to expand. Among the LED ceiling lights that have been put into production by various manufacturers, many products are not based on the premise of replacing the light source components.

Through product planning, lighting manufacturers have added features that traditional ceiling lamps do not have, such as thinness, dimming and color adjustment functions, to ceiling lamps to expand the LED ceiling lamp market. For large lighting manufacturers, this means losing the market for replacement parts such as round fluorescent lamps used in traditional ceiling lamps. From this point of view, easily lowering the price of LED ceiling lamps will shrink the overall market for ceiling lamps, including ceiling lamps and replacement parts.