Light Control Switches Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The light control switches market is expected to witness a growth at a CAGR of 6.8% over the forecast period (2021-2026). Light switches which were once a simple decision has now made its place into the home improvement category as well as industrial and outdoor applications. With different applications, switch style, wiring needs, and programmable capabilities, choosing the right light switches and dimmers can be tricky to navigate.

Key Highlights

• To help connect IoT devices such as smart lighting solutions, lighting controls, where mesh communications protocols are rapidly emerging as a preferred solution, especially for low-power applications. For the same, wireless communication enables technology such as ZigBee to have emerged with more popularity in recent years.
• Additionally, increasing smart city projects worldwide is one of the major factors creating huge opportunities for the light control switches market. National governments aiding the expansion of smart city projects is also a key trend in the market. With the help of the Smart Cities and Communities European Innovation Partnership (EIP SCC), supported by the European Commission, 78 cities in the region have undertaken smart city development. EIP-SCC aims to have 300 smart cities by the end of 2020.
• However, the market has been affected by the recent outbreak of COVID 19, and companies have been forced to restructure their strategies to deal with the ongoing pandemic. Companies like Telensa and signify were the worst hit due to this pandemic. Signify in February 2020 had planned to upgrade their solar connected street light to toggle between solar and grid power by using Philips Combo Charge Controller. But the company has gone into financial crunch due to the COVID outbreak, the company in March 2020 had announced a 20 percent pay cut of all their employees.

Key Market Trends

ZigBee Wireless Communication Switches to Gain Significant Growth

• ZigBee is an asynchronous protocol; that is, a node may choose to transmit at any time. A light switch (for instance a node of 25 devices), can wake up and send a command to turn on the lights any time a user flips the switch. Or a factory automation system might need to send an alarm immediately. That is why routers need to be and must be awake all the time and ready to route a message.
• Currently, the ZigBee Alliance site lists about 400 devices for Home Automation, while a total of 3000 ZigBee certified and compliant products and platforms. The Home Automation ZigBee Devices are all the common IoT Home devices such as light bulbs, switches, locks, motion sensors, and thermostats.
• The increasig smart city projects across the world is expected to create demand for ZigBee based lighting solutions for residential smart lightings. In India, an urban modernization initiative called the “Smart Cities Mission” was launched in 2015, with the ambitious goal of creating 100 smart cities over a five-year period. The funding was also ambitious, with the national government allocating 480 billion rupees (USD 7.5 billion) to the initiative and requiring matching funding from participating cities. Such trends are further expected to drive the studied market significantly.

North America to Witness Significant Growth

• Light control switch vendors have a strong foothold in the North America region, which contributes to the growth of the market. Some of them include Signify, Legrand, Eaton, Consumer Technology Association, and Luton, among others. in July 2019, EuControls Corporation announced the issuance of US Patent for its Zigbee Lighting Controller with Sensors. The company has developed Zigbee wireless operated dimming controller intended to be installed on existing dimmable LED luminaires. It works by phase-cutting input power of the illumines, and the sensing capability enables the controller a degree of autonomous operation outside gateway control.
• According to a recent study by the Stanford University and Avast, North American homes have the highest density of IoT devices of any region in the world. Notably, 66% of homes in the region have at least one IoT device controlling lights. Additionally, 25% of North American homes boast more than two devices. Due to robust cloud infrastructure, increasing number of connected devices, and advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in the region,
• Companies are partnering to ensure interoperability, hence gaining competitive advantage other big players. For instance, in May 2019, Silicon Labs and Signify, collaborated on an extension of the Friends of Hue program enabling ecosystem partners to develop smart light switches for Philips Hue systems.

Competitive Landscape

The light controller switches market is more inclined towards fragmentation with the presence of many established players competing with the less product differenciation. This created a market competitiveness with higher bargaining power with the buyers. Hence, the companies have been trying to make strategic acquistions and product innovation in order to gain more market share. Some of the recent developement by these companies are mentioned below.

• March 2020 - Signify announced the completion of the acquisition of Cooper Lighting Solutions from Eaton for USD 1.5 billion. With this acquisition, the company has planned to focus on the innovation of connected lightings and systems. This is estimated to drive the revenue growth of the company in the North American market with an aimed increase in professional revenues from 42% to 53%.
• February 2020 - Signify introduced a new integrated Philips Combo Charge Controller for streetlights, enabling the emergence of a hybrid solar system. With this innovation, the company is aiming at creating a new market for solar powered outdoor lightings in Asia, Africa, South America, Australia, and Spain, where the company has already installed solar-powered lights.

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