Trillion-Yuan Night Economy Exposed: How the Lighting Industry Is Reframing a ¥50 Trillion Market
As the lights of the 2025 Shanghai Nightlife Festival illuminated The INLET, the lighting industry witnessed the dawn of a new era. In the evolution of the night economy—from simple nighttime consumption to the reconstruction of time-space experiences—lighting has shifted from a basic utility to a vital medium for energizing urban nightlife. Recent studies reveal that China’s night economy reached ¥50.25 trillion in 2023, and technological innovation in lighting is now a key lever driving this massive market.
Lighting Technology Redefines the Dimensions of Urban Nightlife
According to the Ministry of Commerce, 60% of urban consumption in China takes place at night. In large shopping malls, 6 PM to 10 PM accounts for more than half of daily sales, and nighttime tourism spending per capita is three times higher than during the day. Behind this “golden night effect,” lighting systems are reshaping consumer scenarios across three key dimensions:
Lighting Redefines Time-Space Boundaries
Chongqing’s Jiefangbei CBD—ranked No.1 nationally for nighttime economic scale in 2024—extends retail hours to 2 AM through LED lighting upgrades. Media façades featuring dynamic light storytelling increased per-square-meter commercial output by 40%. This “lighting + commerce” model is spreading nationwide. In Nanjing, the Xinjiekou business district and Confucius Temple jointly launched the “Golden Night of Jinling” brand, using tailored light shows to transform traditional streets into immersive consumer scenes, boosting nighttime footfall by 35% YoY in 2024.
Interactive Smart Lighting as a Game Changer
Shanghai’s Suhewan waterfront is a model for “smart lighting corridors.” An AI-based system adjusts brightness in real time based on crowd flow—when dense foot traffic is detected, lighting switches to festival mode and syncs with background music. A report by JLL and Jing’an District shows this system increased average nighttime dwell time by 27 minutes and nearby F&B sales by 22%. Meanwhile, companies like Foshan Lighting are pioneering “interactive light tiles” that ripple in response to pedestrian footsteps, infusing urban spaces with a sense of playful tech.
Cultural IP Comes Alive Through Light
Lighting is breathing new life into traditional culture and intangible heritage. During the 2025 Spring Festival, Quanzhou’s Citong Flower-themed light show transformed traditional paper-cutting into a 3D projection art experience, pushing nighttime cultural tourism
Transformation from Hardware Supplier to Scenario-Based Solutions
The explosive growth of the night-time economy is driving the lighting industry to shift from traditional lighting product sales to providing comprehensive light environment solutions. This transformation is reflected in three major technological breakthroughs:
Multi-Spectrum Lighting Enhances Nighttime Consumption Experiences
Multi-spectrum lighting technology is becoming key to enhancing the consumer experience at night. Opple Lighting has developed an “Emotional Light Recipe” system that adjusts color temperature and spectral distribution to create warm yellow lighting in shopping malls that encourages purchasing, and blue-violet lighting in bars to stimulate social interaction. Test data shows that precise spectral control can extend customer dwell time by 15% and improve conversion rates by 9%. Sanan Optoelectronics' Micro LED flexible screens, already deployed on building façades along Shanghai’s Bund, use high-contrast light and shadow effects to enhance nighttime advertising appeal.
Low-Carbon Lighting Systems Support Carbon Goals and Reduce Costs
Low-carbon lighting systems not only respond to China's “dual carbon” goals but also cut operating expenses. In Qingdao’s 5G smart streetlight project, Huawei and Hengrun Optoelectronics collaborated on an integrated photovoltaic lighting solution that reduced streetlight energy consumption by 60%, with an additional 30% saved through intelligent dimming. This “energy-saving + smart” model is becoming standard for municipal night economy projects. Estimates show that upgrading a single streetlight to meet new national LED standards can save RMB 3,000–5,000 in electricity over a 5-year lifecycle, significantly easing the financial burden of public night economy investments.
Blended Reality Lighting Technologies Expand the Night Economy into the Metaverse
Blending virtual and real lighting technology is unlocking new possibilities for the night economy in the metaverse. Leyard Group has launched an AR light-and-shadow tour system in Chengdu’s Kuanzhai Alley—visitors can scan streetlights with their phones to trigger interactive narratives with virtual historical figures. This “real-world lighting + virtual content” model has increased average nighttime tour duration by one hour. Even more cutting-edge is Appotronics' laser projection technology, which can transform entire city blocks into AR gaming spaces, introducing new forms of nighttime consumption.
From Single-Point Technologies to Ecosystem Building: A Leap in Capability
The deepening of the night-time economy is reshaping the competitive landscape of the lighting industry. According to Lü Mei, Head of Strategic Advisory at JLL East China, "The future competition in the night economy is essentially a competition in the ability to transform a city's cultural DNA into consumer appeal." This evolving competition is giving rise to three major trends:
Cross-industry ecosystem alliances are becoming standard for large-scale projects.
In the 2025 Shanghai Nightlife Festival lighting project, Philips Lighting partnered with Tencent Cloud and Wenheyou to create a closed-loop ecosystem combining "lighting + social interaction + dining." QR codes embedded in light fixtures guide consumers into online experiences, then redirect them to offline restaurants—boosting conversion rates by 30%. This “lighting company + internet + cultural IP” model is becoming a mainstream cooperation pattern for city-level night economy projects.
Lighting operations are unlocking a second growth curve.
Traditional lighting enterprises are shifting from “one-time sales” to “long-term operations.” For example, Unilumin launched a “light and shadow operation service” in Xi’an’s Grand Tang Mall, using real-time monitoring of lighting effects and foot traffic to dynamically adjust lighting strategies and enhance the consumer experience. This service-based model generates sustained post-project revenue, increasing per-customer transaction value by over 50%.
Deep customization for vertical scenarios creates differentiated advantages.
In the cultural tourism sector, NVC Lighting developed a "cultural storytelling lighting system" that tailors light-and-shadow narratives to the historical background of different districts. In the commercial sector, Ledsun introduced a "smart window lighting solution" that uses dynamic lighting to capture the attention of passersby—tests show it can increase display engagement by 60%. This kind of deep customization for specific scenarios is becoming the key to breaking through market homogenization.
