BACKGROUND -Founded in 1938 -Headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois -Third generation ownership -Third largest fluorescent provider to the home center market -Ships 2.7 million lighting products annually -More than 600,000 are Energy Star Labeled products
What Markets we serve: Retail: Home Centers, Hardware Retailers, Mass Market Retailers Hospitality: Hotels, Assisted Living, Institutional Showroom: Lighting Showrooms Electrical Distributors Light Commercial: Builders, Designers, Specifiers
What we make: Utilitarian Fixtures Shop Light Strip Light Ceiling Troffers Recessed Troffer Vaportite Strip
What we make: Fluorescent Basics Round Cloud Cloud Vanity Linear Cloud Wrap
What we make: Linear Decoratives Flush Mount Sconce Crown Molding
Where our fixtures go: Traditional residential applications for fluorescent fixtures
Who buys our fixtures: (For residential applications) Contractors / Builders 65% Do-it-yourself handymen 20% All other homeowners 15% (Source: internal sales data)
What some of our customers think Ballasts Doesn t start instantly Flickers Hums Cheap, low-end technology Not good for use in cold weather Can t Dim about fluorescent lighting: Negative Perceptions Lamps Bad unreal color Difficult to find replacement lamps Difficult to understand labeling (how bright is it?) Difficult to understand nomenclature (Super deluxe white? 3000K?) Too many lamp choices Applications Not for use in nicer parts of the house Nothing decorative available Don t want home to look like an office
What some of our customers think about fluorescent lighting: Positive Perceptions Ballasts Relatively energyefficient Lamps Usually provides longer life (but how much longer?) Applications Gives a lot of light for a relatively small cost Good for lighting larger, secondary rooms (basements, garages)
Recent developments affecting the residential lighting market: Government/ Industry Involvement 2005 DOE Ballasts Energy Conservation Standards California Title 24
Recent developments affecting the residential lighting market: Ballast Technology Single ballast lights up to 4 lamps Miniature Socket and Ballast Combo
Recent developments affecting the residential lighting market: Off Shore Fabrication
Recent developments affecting the residential lighting market: Lamp Technology Efficient T-8 and T-5 Lamps CFLs for multiple applications
Recent developments affecting the residential lighting market: Too Many Pin Based Lamp Options
Our Direction In the Marketplace: Sell fluorescent fixtures to new areas in the home
Addressing Consumers Negative Perceptions Perceptions: Not for use in nicer parts of the house Nothing decorative available Don t want home to look like an office Action: Place importance on design to add value Sell a decorative fixture, not a decorative fluorescent fixture Create new families of decorative pinbased compact fluorescent fixtures Enhance existing linear fluorescents Fixture styles and price points to be comparable to incandescent product
Addressing Consumers Negative Perceptions Perceptions: Cheap, low-end technology Doesn t start instantly Flickers Hums Not good for cold-weather use Can t dim Action: Use electronic ballasts only Energy-efficient/ Energy Star rated Miniature-sized Instant start, No flicker, No humming, Cold-weather start Dimmable ballasts coming soon
Addressing Consumers Negative Perceptions Perceptions: Too many lamp choices Bad unreal color Difficult to find replacement lamps Difficult to understand labeling / nomenclature (how bright is it? 3000K?) Action: Standardize and simplify lamp choices Use only 3 different CFL lamps: 13W / 18W / 26W Quad 4-pin Use only 2700K color-temperature lamps for residential applications Sell and/or package lamps with fixture Encourage industry efforts at lamp specification standardization
2005 Residential Decorative Families
Salem Chandelier
Bennington
Santa Cruz Chandelier
Oslo Pendant
How to successfully promote decorative fluorescent fixtures: Encourage CFL standardization by promoting only a selected few pin based lamps 4 pin base only 13W/ 18W/ 26W CFL as standard lamp types Encourage use of 2700K lamps for residential use Promote only 1 or 2 lamp types (i.e. quad or spiral) Encourage retailers to regularly stock these as standard replacement CFL lamps
Encourage per socket rebate (pin based) not per fixture More number of sockets = more energy savings Promote larger choice of fixture styles and price points in each program Avoid limiting consumers choices, develop programs that allow many fixture options Encourage retailers to carry a broad range of fixtures Promote higher end compact fluorescent and linear fluorescent fixtures Target rebates to defray the costs of higher value decorative energy efficient fixtures
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