TrendForce: China’s Lighting E-commerce Market to Become Largest LED Distribution Channel

China’s e-commerce market scale has reached US $445.1 billion in 2014, and fundamentally changed consumers’ daily habits. The emergence of the e-commerce industry, has made establishment of online shops a top priority for LED manufacturers, according to LEDinside, a research subsidiary of the Taipei-based market intelligence company TrendForce. 

 “The lighting e-commerce market scale in China has reached US $2.4 billion in 2014, and amounted to 14.4% revenue share among all distribution channels,” said Figo Wang, Senior Analyst of LEDinside. “As LED lighting products continue to sellout online, the online lighting market is expected to grow well into 2017, with Internet sales estimated to reach 30% to become the largest LED lighting distribution channel, and overtake traditional lighting distribution channels including construction project and luminaire retail shops.” 

E-commerce channels in China are gradually transitioning from C2C (Consumers to Consumers) models to B2C (Business to Consumers), which can be especially seen in the lighting e-commerce segment, said Wang. Lighting e-commerce sales from B2C models reached 55% above C2C’s 45%, according to latest statistics compiled by LEDinside. 

Analysis based on China’s e-commerce platforms indicate Tmall.com has been most successful in its lighting e-commerce business, and has a market share of 54% in the B2C market. Top three LED luminaire manufacturers in terms of online revenue are Opple, NVC Lighting and Xiamen Aoduo lllumination, while three major players for LED lamps are Philips, Opple, and NVC Lighting. JD.com is the second largest lighting e-commerce platform with a market share of 19.2%, but its sales volume and brands represented are much lower than Tmall.com. It will be difficult for newcomers, such as other e-commerce platforms, to make significant breakthroughs in the short term as Tmall.com and JD.com firmly establish their market positions as leaders in the lighting e-commerce sector. Other e-commerce platforms have also placed value on the lighting market, and are trying to attract lighting manufacturers to invest. 

To learn more about China’s lighting e-commerce market developments and strategies, LEDinside will be addressing these issues at LEDforum 2014 that will take place on Oct. 24, 2014 at Room 201 of National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center, Taipei Taiwan. In its seventh year, the annual LEDforum serves as an important platform for LEDinside analysts to publicize their research results. At this year’s LEDinside forum, LEDinside Research Director Roger Chu will be discussing the latest developments in the LED industry market, technology advancements, and different manufacturers business strategy. Chu will also be exploring future trends in the LED industry. LEDinside’s senior analyst based in China, Figo Wang, will also be speaking at the forum in Taipei for the first time, and share his insights on LED lighting market conditions in China, e-commerce distribution channels and manufacturers business strategies. 

Date: October 24th, 2014 (FRI) 
Time: 10:00 to 17:00 
Venue: Room 201, National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center 
Address: No. 2 Xuzho Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan 
Website: http://seminar.trendforce.com/Ledforum/2014/US/INDEX/ 

The full agenda is available at http://seminar.trendforce.com/Ledforum/2014/US/agenda/.