This Thomas Index Report is sponsored by North American Signal Company, a leading American manufacturer of automotive, truck, and industrial warning lights and accessories.
Hello. In this week’s Thomas Index Report we’re going to take a look at sourcing activity for LED Lights & Lighting by users of the Thomasnet.com platform. Our data shows that over the past twelve weeks, sourcing activity for this category is up 28% over its historical average.
Our firmographic buyer data shows that three of the top industries driving this trend are Retail, Automotive, and Industrial Equipment Manufacturing.
It’s that time of year when homes and businesses are lit up for the holidays, and this year as in recent years, there’s a great chance that the festive lights you see are LED lights. LED Lighting has seen huge growth in the past decade as an eco-friendly solution that uses a fraction of the power used by standard incandescent bulbs.
While LED lightbulbs were initially as much as one hundred dollars per bulb, prices have dropped considerably and they can be found today for as low as a few dollars per bulb. LED bulbs can cost as little as two dollars per year to operate, and according to Consumer Reports, they can last up to 50,000 hours, which is five times longer than comparable traditional bulbs.
These cost advantages have driven increasing demand across the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors; federal and state energy reduction mandates have also contributed to businesses and building owners turning to LED lighting solutions in a big way. This is a huge industry; the global LED lighting market is expected to surpass $70 billion by 2023, according to P&S Market Research.
Like thousands of other products, LED Lights have been caught up in the ongoing trade skirmish with China. Today, Chinese-made lights are subject to a 10% tariff, that tariff is scheduled to increase to 25% in the new year. We’ll definitely keep an eye on how those higher tariffs impact sourcing activity for this category by users on the Thomasnet.com platform.
In addition to sourcing for LED Lights & Lighting, our data also shows that sourcing activity is up 12%, month over month, in the related categories of LED Strip Lighting, and LED Street Lights.
Moving on from Lighting, here’s a look at the top ten industrial product and service categories being sourced on the Thomasnet.com platform over the past four weeks.
- Steel
- Printed Circuit Boards
- Injection Molded Plastics
- CNC Milling
- Metal Stampings
- Metal Fabrication
- CNC Machining
- Corrugated Boxes
- Machining
- Lumber
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Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next week.