What is Zhongshan Lighting planning to do? Wu Changjiang: Let’s join forces and work together to capture the market!

Hello everyone, I’m Lao Hong. What’s中山照明 planning to do? COO Wu Changjiang summed it up in one sentence: integrate a group of specialized companies with unique strengths, join forces, and collectively capture the market!

On September 28, the Zhongshan Lighting Global Service Provider Ecosystem Co‑construction Conference, themed “Lighting Illuminates a Hundred Cities, Glory Spreads Across Ten Thousand Lands,” concluded successfully in Zhongshan, Guangdong. Leaders from the Zhongshan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the Regional Brand Management Office, and industry associations, along with representatives from two authoritative institutions—the Guangdong Institute of Product Quality Supervision and Inspection and the Zhongshan Quality and Metrology Supervision and Testing Institute—gathered together with Zhongshan Lighting’s core management team and prospective partners from across the country.

Why is this conference worth paying attention to? Because it addresses two of the most pressing issues facing today’s lighting industry—one is the quality baseline, and the other is the business model.

Let’s start with the first pain point: quality control. With overcapacity and intense homogeneous competition driving prices down to rock bottom, quality often ends up being the casualty. At this conference, Yao Yi, General Manager of Zhongshan Lighting’s Quality Control Center, put forward an idea that I wholeheartedly agree with: “3C certification is the foundation for doing business; 9C is what truly drives competitiveness.”

What does this mean? The mandatory 3C certification is merely the entry threshold—not a selling point. Beyond 3C, Zhongshan Lighting has established a comprehensive 9C quality access system: supplier self‑inspection, screening by Zhongshan Lighting’s laboratories, and re‑inspection by third‑party authoritative agencies—three layers of rigorous checks. And this isn’t just talk—during the event, they directly signed quality‑assistance agreements with the Guangdong Institute of Product Quality Supervision and Inspection and the Zhongshan Quality and Metrology Supervision and Testing Institute, while also publishing their quality‑access standards on the National Standards Website for public oversight.

In my view, this move is spot‑on! For consumers, “buy with confidence—choose 9C”: product quality is traceable and verifiable, dramatically lowering the barrier to purchase. For service providers, the 9C label serves as the ultimate trust endorsement. Quality has transformed from a cost into a competitive advantage.

Now let’s turn to the second issue: digitalization and intelligent technologies. Why are traditional brick‑and‑mortar stores struggling? Purchasing decisions rely on experience, inventory ties up capital, and unauthorized channel diversion leads to chaotic pricing. This time, Zhongshan Lighting laid bare its entire strategy: 33 provincial cloud warehouses enable nearby delivery, reducing inventory pressure; each store is equipped with two digital assistants—“Super Store Manager” and an “AI‑powered Intelligent Lighting Designer”; and with just one iPad, customers can virtually tour the company’s 10,000‑square‑meter global experience center via VR.

Li Dingrong, Director of the Digitalization Center, stated something very straightforward: “Every penny spent in-store must be accounted for.” Product selection is data‑driven, inventory is managed through nationwide coordination, and diverted products simply cannot be settled within the system. Coupled with the approach of “one lamp, three platforms, three sales channels”—e‑commerce shelf‑space, livestream e‑commerce, and instant retail—Zhongshan Lighting has built out the necessary infrastructure for qualification, content creation, and livestream conversion, ensuring order flow reaches service providers. This is no longer just about selling products—it’s about digitally reshaping the business logic of lighting at the end‑user level.

My assessment is this: the era when the lighting industry competed primarily on price is fading. Moving forward, the real battleground will be twofold—first, maintaining an ironclad quality baseline; second, mastering robust digital capabilities. By uniting regional brands to expand overseas and empowering terminal stores with integrated solutions spanning quality, supply chain, finance, and digital tools, if this model proves successful, it won’t just benefit Zhongshan Lighting—it will set a benchmark for the entire lighting industry.

The world looks to China for lighting, and China looks to Zhongshan. Whether this vision can resonate depends entirely on whether we can safeguard our golden reputation for quality.

Do you agree with Lao Hong’s perspective? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

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About the author, Hong Bing:

Hong Bing currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of China Light Network and Agricultural Lighting Network—the official websites of the China Lighting Appliance Association—Executive Dean of Ming Classroom, Executive Vice President of the Beijing Lighting Appliance Association, Deputy Chairperson of both the Talent Training Committee and the Agricultural Lighting Professional Committee under the China Lighting Appliance Association, Executive Deputy Chairperson of the Lighting Alumni Association of Fudan University, and a Board Member of the Ecological Environment Alumni Association of CEIBS. He graduated from the Department of Light Sources and Lighting Engineering at Fudan University in 1991 and earned an MBA from CEIBS in 2003. Over the years, he has worked in R&D, product planning, and marketing at institutions including the China Building Materials Academy, Panasonic, GE, and OSRAM. In 2008, he received Siemens’ Global Top Plus Award and Siemens China’s Outstanding Performance Award, and in 2009, he founded China Light Network.