Genesis sizes up the lighting industry in South Africa

A manufacturer and retailer of homeware products was looking to expand into the residential lighting market in South Africa. To assist in this process, they commissioned Genesis to size the residential lighting market in South Africa. As no reliable estimates existed for the size of this market, Genesis used various market sizing techniques to establish an accurate estimate for the client.

The residential lighting market in South Africa is made up of mostly imported products rather than domestic production. Therefore, when sizing the market Genesis used import data from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) as a primary estimation method. As data is scarce in the lighting industry, Genesis used two other estimation methods to act as sense checks to the primary import method. These sense checks provided estimates within a similar range.

The first sense check used information on South African residential lighting manufacturers and retailer’s revenue to develop an overall bottom up estimation of total residential lighting revenue in South Africa. The second sense check was based on interviews held with various industry experts from organisations such as the Illumination Engineering Society of South Africa, as well as discussions with importers and wholesalers in the residential lighting industry in South Africa.

These estimations were supplemented by a detailed analysis of import data which provided a rich context to the general lighting market.

Our analysis provided the client with an informed, evidence-based view of the value of the residential lighting market in South Africa which could be used to form its commercial strategy going forward.