TILS Turned on More than Light Bulbs for Some Foreign Buyers

Key to success of the lighting show is

With global warming still being reported as a pressing issue, one solution of which is to use more energy-efficient lighting, especially when lights generally burn about 30% of all electricity. Hence many countries are promoting increasing use of lighting that consumes less electricity as part of their green policy. And with the current state of product development, LED lamps hold promising market potential and dominated the Taiwan International Lighting Show, held March 12-15 this year.

Since 2000, Taiwan has led the world as LED maker in annual production volume and has been No. 2 in annual production value (only trailing Japan). Such accolades has helped the resurrection of the TILS in March after eight years of suspension, with the focus of exhibited products being wide ranging, from decorative lighting fixtures to modern LED illumination.

Dedicated as Ever

Not diverting from its usual dedication, the show organizer Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) mobilized all its overseas offices and associated agencies to bring as many foreign buyers to Taipei as possible. It's debatable whether such promotional efforts helped, but lighting suppliers in Taiwan would likely argue the key to the success of the TILS was the island's strength in LED illumination technologies.

As most truly effective trade shows, the TILS proved to foreign buyers that the lighting event was not only a venue to see the latest LED illumination knowledge, but also an efficient platform to find partners who are interested in tapping the potential of LEDs' green characteristics to build marketable lighting. Co-organized by the TAITRA and Taiwan Lighting Fixture Export Association (TLFEA), the TILS attracted 170 exhibitors, over 10,000 buyers and visitors, among which nearly 700 were from abroad.

Many foreign buyers, with quite a few being first-time TILS visitors, reported they were impressed with the wide range of LED lighting shown.

Heavyweight Buyers

The TILS attracted not only plentiful foreign buyers, but also many heavyweights, including the Merory Merlin that runs the Home Center chain stores in France; Radiant Group which is the largest lighting group in South Africa; Gemmo Spa which is a renowned Italian construction company; Bacpol S.A. which is a leading chain store in Poland; Germany's leading lighting company Trilux; Japan's landscape design company Takasho; and so on. In addition, there were also buyers from emerging countries like Hungary, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Chilly, Dominican Republic, and Mid-East countries.

Leese From Dubai

Thomas Leese, sales manager of green lighting in Dubai, says that his company is focused on new energy-efficient lighting resources like LED bulbs; but acknowledging an inherent advantage of being a Mid-Easterner: “Demand for high-efficiency lighting in the Middle East is not as urgent as elsewhere for the area has ample crude oil that is available to locals at relatively lower prices.” However, he emphasized that it's the global trend to use energy-efficient products for eco-protection, and predicted that LED lamps will likely prevail in the Middle East sooner or later.

Glad to see many innovative LED lamps at the TILS, Leese admitted to being also inspired by ways to promote LED lamps in his country. “Besides saving energy, LED lighting, due to compactness and other characteristics, hold high capacity for designers to maximize contemporary features, not to mention being suited for modern technology.

Regional HQ in Shanghai

Emmanuel Satge is Area Manager Asia of Electrozemper S.A., an illumination company headquartered in Spain. Stage's office is in Shanghai, the regional headquarters of the Spanish company in charge of the Greater China market. He believes in the great market potential in China in light of the rapid pace of urbanization, driven by various stimulus measures, as well as recognizing Taiwan's LED illumination technologies. The Area Manager sees the Greater China market as holding excellent potential for the Spanish company, especially with its convenient location in Shanghai and, with increasing partnerships between Taiwan and China, its foreseeable accessibility to LED lighting technologies in Taiwan.

The hurdle remains to be technology, some may argue, of LED lighting, with most LED illumination products still in the initial stage of development and years before they become popular as ubiquitous household products. Luca Barban from the Italian Gemmo lighting company said modestly that visiting TILS had literally turned on a few bulbs, as well as revealing the truth behind consumer ignorance: “Currently most consumers know only about traditional incandescent and fluorescent lights without being aware of LED lamps as options. Lighting suppliers however fill this gap of ignorance by introducing new products. Barban says that the TILS is truly an education for he saw first-hand the progress in LED lighting in Taiwan, and believes the show is the ideal platform for gathering information.

Barban likely found what he was truly sourcing at the TILS, and it was hard to miss as lighting for roads and streets were the two largest categories. The Italian also took the opportunity to look for potential supplier partners in LED street lighting.

In-person Meetings

A strategy by now duplicated in many trade shows, the one-on-one meetings between foreign buyers and suppliers arranged by TAITRA on the first day of the show was a main feature of the event that drew many participants. Showing the popularity of the meeting, one hundred foreign buyers registered for the event, who expressed interest to buy all kinds of LED lighting products as LED street lighting, LED bulbs, and others for residential or commercial usages.

LEDs Indicators for Trains

Carlos Barragan Pera, a procurement representative of Spanish Commercial Protoinsa S.A. that focuses on producing trains and other track vehicles, was a first-timer at the TILS who participated in the foreign procurement meeting to look for LED indicators and other parts. Satisfied with the efficiency of such meetings, Pera says that he had met with over a dozen Taiwanese suppliers in just one day, and found several suitable LED indicator lamp makers.

Finding LED makers at the TILS was only a start, for making LED indicators for trains or other track vehicles calls for certain high technologies, likely involving the need to build extremely high lumen output, visibility in harsh conditions, and extended durability, all of which may be beyond typical makers who are still making LED lighting for households. “Fortunately I found several companies with such technologies at the TILS,” says Pero, adding that he will again contact the potential partners after discussions with colleagues in Spain.

Brazilian Lighting Retailer

Treelux, an illumination and lighting fixture retailer in Brazil, sent its procurement representative Gilberto Spiguel, who reported being satisfied with the in-person meetings for it took only one morning to find several potential suppliers.

“LEDs used to be parts of electric and electronic devices as tiny indicators, but now they have been developed into an independent consumer product category,” Spiguel commented. Apparently LED-product savvy, Spiguel says while LED lamps are considered as highly energy-efficient and have great market potential, they are still in the initial stage of development, bogged down by two major obstacles. First, the very high R&D costs will be carried in the initial pricing, compromising their competitiveness. Currently LED lamps are priced several times more than traditional incandescent and fluorescent lamps. “The second hurdle is ‘neo-product-ignorance,' simply meaning most consumers need time to switch to a new technology, which may be even harder than quitting smoking,” says Spiguel with a dash of Brazilian humor.

Also super-long durability may actually work against LEDs, with LED lamps typically rated for tens of thousands of hours. In effect LED lamps may not be cost-effective solutions for users who habitually remodel their homes occasionally, which would waste such lighting, he says.

Justifying the long flight from South America to Taiwan, Spiguel says that introducing LED lighting to his market calls for, in light of the early stage of LED lighting in Brazil, being able to promote such lighting to consumers, a task necessitating suppliers to collect and supply information as reference. Fortunately the trip has been worthwhile for he found several potential partners who are ready, capable and willing.

New to Hungary

Sandor Borocz, CEO of Lisys Lighting System that is a lighting retailer in Hungary, says LED lamps are non-existent in the East European market. Despite being in the lighting business for years, Borocz still considered visiting the TILS a precious education in LED technologies and products.

Lisys Lighting System retails lighting products made locally or supplied by agents who import from China. Borocz's first-time visit to Taipei may literally be an eureka for his company may have found a new opportunity to build business relationships with Taiwanese companies.