How a veteran lighting company continues to find success

Like the fashion industry, the construction and architectural design industries are beholden to ever-evolving trends. Interior paint colours, exterior timber cladding, bathroom fittings, kitchen cabinetry, and many hundreds of other fixtures throughout the home have seen styles come and go throughout the years.

Lighting is no exception to this rule: not only in its physical properties — LED light fittings are a much more common sight than 20 years ago — but also in its aesthetics. Glass fittings, especially pendant lights for example, have become popular in recent years, and innovations in track lighting — like the introduction of magnetics into its application — have contributed to an uptick in interest in that particular method of lighting, too.

And that’s barely scratching the surface, says Prolux managing director Callum Hawker. “It really is a constantly changing market,” he says. “A lot of it comes down to the changing technology, like LED and magnetic track lighting, and it’s a matter of keeping up with the trends that emerge from that.”

A lighting importer and distributor to the New Zealand market for 28 years, Prolux is a veteran in the space — providing lighting solutions for both residential and commercial applications, with customers ranging from specialised lighting shops to independent electrical wholesalers.

And with the company’s extensive experience in the industry, they’ve had to stay on top of the revolving door of trends throughout the decades, in both domestic and commercial settings.

“On the residential side of things, we’ve got lighting solutions and appropriate fittings for anywhere in the house — from downlights to wall lights, picture lights and LED lights,” says Callum. “Not to mention an entire range of outdoor lighting, including landscape fittings, pathway lighting and more.

“And then on the commercial side, we’ve got a solid range of commercial downlighting, spotlights, innovative track lighting and others as well.”

With such an extensive range to offer their electrical wholesaler clientele, and to compete with a saturated market, Prolux is keenly aware that it needs to stay on the cutting edge of the industry. To do this, the company does extensive research.

“Market research is a huge part of our business, to ensure we know what is wanted in the market,” says Callum. “It’s a huge advantage to know what is up and coming, what’s already available to us, and what will be available to us in the future.”

One particular result of this research is the pinpointing of a specific emerging trend: modular lighting. In the push to tilt appliances and fittings towards being ‘repairable’ rather than ‘disposable’, modular design has arrived in markets pushing for this change, as fittings can have more than one ‘sub-fitting’, and therefore still be useful if one breaks. Many modular lighting systems are designed to be easier to repair, too.

“This sort of thing circumvents a common problem in conventional downlights, for example, where if a fitting fails, it’s common to just throw it out” says Callum. “With more of a spotlight on cleaner and greener living, we like to offer more sustainable options.”

And Prolux doesn’t just offer these products and services to electrical wholesalers — it also works with independent lighting retailers, operating out of its sprawling warehouse in Albany.

“We import all of the product, it's all of our own brand, and we work with suppliers to select the range and import it for sale here,” says Callum. “We’re proud of the work we do and our partnerships with retailers and wholesalers to bring top quality lighting to New Zealanders.”

Learn more about Prolux and its solutions.