When the lights of the Shanghai 2025 Nightlife Festival are lit up at Shangsheng Xinshe, the lighting industry is witnessing the opening of a new era - in the evolution of the night economy from "nighttime consumption" to "spatiotemporal scene reconstruction", the lighting system is no longer just a functional facility, but has become the core medium to activate the vitality of the city at night. The latest research shows that the size of China's night economy market has reached 50.25 trillion yuan in 2023, and the innovative application of lighting technology is becoming a key lever to leverage this huge market.
Lighting technology defines a new dimension of urban nightlife
According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, 60% of consumption in Chinese cities occurs at night, and the consumption of large shopping malls from 18:00 to 22:00 accounts for over 50% of the entire day. Nighttime consumption contributes three times more to per capita tourism consumption than daytime consumption.Behind this' nighttime golden effect ', lighting systems are reshaping consumer scenarios from three dimensions:
The lighting remodeling of the time-space boundary is particularly prominent in the Monument to the people's Liberation CBD of Chongqing. As the commercial district with the largest nighttime consumption scale in China in 2024, it has extended the consumption period until 2am through LED lighting environment renovation, and combined with dynamic light and shadow narrative on the building media facade, it has increased the consumption output per unit area by 40%.This "lighting+commercial" model is being replicated nationwide - the "Night Jinling" brand created by Nanjing Xinjiekou Business District in conjunction with Confucius Temple transforms traditional neighborhoods into immersive consumption scenes through customized light shows, with a year-on-year increase of 35% in nighttime passenger flow in 2024.
The interactive revolution of smart lighting has made the "Waterfront Lighting Corridor" in Suhewan, Shanghai a model. The AI dimming system used in this area can automatically adjust the illumination based on real-time crowd flow. When a crowd is detected, the lights will switch to festival mode and play background music in conjunction. The "Suhewan Vitality Index Report" jointly released by JLL and Jing'an District shows that this smart lighting solution has increased the average nighttime stay time in the area by 27 minutes, driving a 22% increase in surrounding dining consumption. More noteworthy is that the "interactive light and shadow tiles" developed by companies such as Foshan Lighting have achieved a ripple effect triggered by pedestrian footprints, injecting technological fun into night economy scenes.
The translation of cultural IP lighting is activating traditional cultural resources such as intangible cultural heritage. During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake in 2025, the Quanzhou tung flower themed light show will transform the technique of intangible cultural heritage paper carving into 3D light and shadow projection. This innovative model of "intangible cultural heritage+light" has led to a 180% year-on-year increase in local nighttime tourism revenue. In the cross-border cooperation between Bubble Mart and Paper Cuttings art, lighting enterprises transformed plane Paper Cuttings into dynamic lighting devices through customized projection technology, creating a new immersive consumption scene of "fun+light".
The transformation from hardware supply to scenario solutions
The explosive growth of the night economy is driving the transformation of the lighting industry from traditional lamp sales to "overall solutions for light environment". This transformation is reflected in three major technological breakthroughs:
Multispectral lighting technology has become the key to enhancing the nighttime consumer experience. The "Emotional Light Formula" system developed by OPPO Lighting can create a warm yellow light environment that promotes purchasing desire in shopping malls by adjusting color temperature and spectral distribution, and create a blue purple light scene that stimulates social emotions in bars. Test data shows that precise spectral control can extend consumer stay time by 15% and increase purchase conversion rates by 9%. The Micro LED flexible screen launched by Sanan Optoelectronics has been applied to the facades of buildings on the Bund in Shanghai, enhancing the nighttime appeal of commercial advertisements through high contrast light and shadow presentation.
Low carbon lighting systems respond to the "dual carbon" goal while reducing operating costs. In the Qingdao 5G Smart Light Pole Project, Huawei and Hengrun Optoelectronics collaborated on a photovoltaic integrated lighting solution, which achieved a 60% reduction in street light energy consumption and further saved 30% of electricity through intelligent dimming. This "energy-saving+smart" model is becoming a standard for municipal night economy projects. According to calculations, retrofitting an LED street light that meets the new national standard can save 3000-5000 yuan in electricity bills over its 5-year lifecycle, significantly reducing the investment pressure on government night economy projects.
The fusion of virtual and real light technology opens up the imaginative space of the metaverse night economy.
The AR light and shadow guidance system developed by Liade Group has been implemented in Kuanzhai Alley, Chengdu. Tourists can trigger virtual historical character interaction plots by scanning street lights with their mobile phones. This "real light+virtual content" mode increases the average night tour time of the scenic area by 1 hour. A more cutting-edge exploration comes from Guangfeng Technology, whose developed laser projection technology can transform the entire block into an AR gaming scene, creating a new consumer format for the night economy.
The ability transition from single point technology to ecological construction
The deep development of the night economy is reshaping the competitive landscape of the lighting industry. Lu Mei, the head of the Strategic Advisory Department of JLL East China, pointed out that "the future competition in the night economy is essentially the ability competition to transform urban cultural genes into consumer attractiveness.
This competition has given rise to three new trends: Cross border integration of ecological alliances has become a standard feature for large-scale projects. In the lighting project of Shanghai 2025 Nightlife Festival, Philips Lighting, together with Tencent Cloud and Wenheyou, has created a closed-loop ecosystem of "lighting+social+catering" - guiding consumers to participate in online interaction through lighting QR codes, and then directing them to offline catering stores, achieving a 30% increase in conversion rate. This "lighting enterprise+Internet plus+cultural IP" model is becoming the mainstream cooperation paradigm of city level night economy projects.
The value mining of lighting operation opens up the second growth curve.
Traditional lighting companies are shifting from "one-time sales" to "long-term operation" models, such as the "Light and Shadow Operation Service" launched by Zhouming Technology in Xi'an Datang Night City. By monitoring lighting effects and passenger flow data in real time, the lighting scheme is dynamically adjusted to optimize the consumer experience. This service model allows companies to continue to generate revenue even after project acceptance, with a customer price increase of over 50%.
Deep customization of vertical scenes creates differentiated advantages. In cultural and tourism scenes, the "Cultural Narrative Lighting System" developed by Leishi Lighting can customize exclusive light and shadow storylines based on the cultural backgrounds of different historical districts; In commercial scenarios, Lidaxin's "Smart Window Lighting Solution" attracts passersby to stay through dynamic light and shadow, and tests have shown that it can increase window attention by 60%.
In cultural and tourism scenes, the "Cultural Narrative Lighting System" developed by Leishi Lighting can customize exclusive light and shadow storylines based on the cultural backgrounds of different historical districts; In commercial scenarios, Lidaxin's "Smart Window Lighting Solution" attracts passersby to stay through dynamic light and shadow, and tests have shown that it can increase window attention by 60%.This deep customization ability for segmented scenarios is becoming the key for enterprises to break through homogeneous competition.
Observation by Zhongzhao Network:
From functional lighting to scene storytelling, from hardware devices to ecological services, the lighting industry has not only achieved technological iteration but also paradigm shift in industrial value in the development of the night economy.
As lighting evolves from "illuminating the road" to "defining lifestyle", lighting companies are reconstructing the spatiotemporal logic of urban nighttime economy through the deep integration of light technology, digital technology, and cultural IP. Behind this transformation is not only the inevitable upgrade of energy-saving technology under the "dual carbon" goal, but also the response to the demand for immersive experiences in the era of consumer upgrading. In the future, those enterprises that can integrate light efficiency, intelligence, and culture will find the value coordinates belonging to the lighting industry in the 50 trillion night economy blue ocean. And this nighttime urban transformation dominated by lighting has just begun.
Taken from Lightingchina.com
Post time: Jul-15-2025