The holiday light installation industry began with lawn care businesses and local electricians looking to make some extra money installing holiday lights, before the holidays. It’s now becoming a fast growing, mature industry. Existing service businesses that add holiday light services see profit margins from 25-45%, while primary lawn care service profit margin may only be 10-15%.

The global holiday light and decoration market was valued at $7.2 Billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $10.73 Billion by 2030. That is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.13%. Some surveys show, 60% of Americans install outdoor holiday lights, creating a large addressable market. The vast majority of the market is residential holiday light installation, rather than commercial. Some of the trends in holiday lights are: white lights, holiday laser projectors, solar-powered displays, smart programmable lights, and unusual lights (such as twinkle stars, icicles, etc.).

In 2017, the industry formed a Facebook group of holiday light installers in order to benefit from sharing information. The group has become the Christmas Light Installation Pros Association (CLIPA), and today is a trade association for the industry, with over 8,000 members. CLIPA also has several certified trainers to assist its member companies. CLIPA holds an annual conference called CLIPA CON, that just wrapped up in San Diego, May 1-3, earlier this month.

In one sign of the maturing market, there are now franchise businesses dedicated exclusively to installing holiday lights, event lights, and landscape lights. Franchising accelerates expansion across the country, using the franchisee’s capital investment. A good example is Blingle!, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Blingle!’s services include: holiday lighting, landscape lighting, permanent decorative lighting, patio lighting, event lighting (think weddings and parties), and commercial decorative outdoor lighting. Blingle! now has 32 business locations across the United States.

What lessons does the holiday light installation industry have for the general lighting industry? That there is money to be made is becoming a “category killer” for a lucrative category of lighting.

All images: Blingle.com

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and President of Lighting Solution Development, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has co-chaired ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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