GE Lighting introduces its most incandescent-like consumer LED portfolio yet, including more than 40 new LED products and fixtures, to meet consumer demand to adequately fill every socket in their homes with energy-efficient LED lighting.

“We know the light consumers love, and we’ve reinvented and perfected the LED to emulate incandescent light,” says John Strainic, General Manager, Consumer Lighting for GE in North America. “We know that when consumers think about energy-efficient lighting, many are deterred by the memory of early CFL bulbs produced by some manufacturers, and we want them to know that with GE LED lighting – there are no tradeoffs.”

When the first CFL bulbs came to market nearly 30 years ago, consumer adoption was slowed by the fact that many of these products didn’t meet consumer expectations of light preference and home application needs. GE Lighting has applied these learnings to its LED product portfolio with design, light quality and performance capabilities as the primary considerations. GE LED bulbs provide instant brightness, energy-efficiency, using 80 percent less energy than old incandescent bulbs, and long life, lasting fifteen times longer—all with the same quality of light consumers love from GE’s original incandescent.

To shed more light on the top consumer trends that shape GE’s LED expansion and why the right time to consider LED lighting is now, we turn to Tom Boyle, GE Lighting’s Chief Innovation Manager, and GE Lighting’s retail partners.

1. As LED prices dramatically decrease, consumer adoption reaches tipping point

LED sales will continue to accelerate this year as prices continue to come down. For A-line shape LED bulbs commonly used in table lamps, these LED bulbs will become the most popular technology in this application by 2016, according to projections by IMS Research, an electronics research firm. Consumers can find GE Lighting’s full breadth of LED products at major retailers, like Walmart.

“Together with GE, we are working to make an energy-efficient lifestyle affordable and accessible to all,” says John Prince, Senior Buyer Hardware Consumables at Walmart. “We work with GE Lighting and more than 85 utilities to make LED light bulbs more affordable, helping our customers save money and light their homes more efficiently.”

2. Meeting consumers’ desire to integrate more lighting control, wirelessly

GE Lighting and lighting control manufacturer, Lutron Electronics, developed GE ‘telligent wireless dimming LED embedded with Lutron’s Clear Connect™ wireless technology. This indoor floodlight LED product is great for those the do-it-yourselfer who doesn’t want to rewire a space—the bulb screws into the socket the same as a standard bulb. The dimming capability is built into the bulb itself and the remote controls up to 10 light bulbs, providing instant dimming. This product is available at select Sam’s Club stores.

“Our members want greater control and flexibility to create a customized lighting experience based on their unique needs,” says Clif Cooper, Senior Buyer at Sam’s Club. “Lighting homes and small businesses shouldn’t be a complicated task, and we’re working with GE to provide our members with the right energy-efficient lighting options, like GE ‘telligent – giving simple, convenient dimming capabilities for sockets that are not connected to dimmer switches.”

3. Consumers’ preference for quality of LED light matters

Ultimately, a consumer will be able to tune, or adjust, LED bulbs to emit a ‘cooler’ white light in the kitchen or a ‘warmer’ soft white light in the living room, based on preference, the task at hand, functionality or time of day. Until this capability becomes more affordable for mainstream adoption, GE will continue to develop soft white, daylight and reveal LED options.

“Stop & Shop and Giant customers want to implement environmentally sensitive practices in their homes for a good value, such as energy-efficient LED lighting, but that shouldn’t mean compromising on quality,” says Jim Wonderly, Vice President of General Merchandise at Ahold USA, parent company of Stop & Shop, GIANT/MARTIN’S and Giant Foods. “We teamed up with GE Lighting to give customers the highest quality LED bulbs from a brand they trust with optimal energy savings, making an energy-efficient lifestyle convenient and attainable.”

4. Consumers want practical LED options for every application

Consumers need LED bulbs to work with their existing home lighting applications—from table lamps to recessed lighting. Up until now, consumers didn’t have realistic LED options for enclosed fixtures and linear work lights. With its latest LED portfolio, GE Lighting is offering LED options for ceiling flush-mount fixtures, or enclosed fixtures, and LED work lights with hardwire connections, making an all-LED lit home possible. GE Lighting has proven success in the commercial space with these types of fixtures and is now offering residential LED options.

“When customers enter our lighting aisle, we know their primary concern is to find the right light bulb for a specific functional need,” says Jamie Akemann, Vice President - Hardlines at Meijer. “Our customers are not necessarily concerned with the science behind lighting – they simply want to know which energy-efficient LED light bulb fits a particular socket and will give them that cozy feeling in their living room. Working with GE, we’re creating an in-aisle experience that provides the information our customers need while demonstrating how lighting can help create an overall mood in a room.”

5. To further propel consumer adoption, recognizable lighting shapes are vital

Familiarity of light bulb design and shape is still vitally important to avoid confusion and to spur continued LED adoption. While LED lighting gives us exciting new capabilities to light our homes in new ways without using conventional lighting fixtures, this transition will take time. With this in mind, GE Lighting continues to develop LED bulbs in A-line and other incandescent shapes.

Consumers can find our newly designed A-line ENERGY STAR®-qualified LED products at major retailers, like Walmart and Sam’s Club. Our third generation 40- and 60-watt will be available in May, and our second generation 75- and 100-watt replacement LEDs will be available this summer.

“While no other technology has enabled us to explore these exciting, new opportunities with lighting, we know we need to guide consumers through this fundamental lifestyle shift from the way they’ve lit their homes for more than 100 years,” says Strainic. “We’ll continue to put consumer needs and preferences first as we develop our LED lighting products.”