IP66-and-above ratings as a baseline, not an upsell. Buyers increasingly assume weatherproofing is included rather than treating it as a premium option, which pushes more of the differentiation into optics and finish.

Warmer color temperatures for landscape and facade work, trading a bit of perceived brightness for a result that reads as intentional architecture rather than a security floodlight.

Modular mounting — the same fixture head working across a pole, a wall bracket and a recessed housing — so a distributor can carry fewer SKUs while still covering more installation types.

Serviceable drivers. Sealed, disposable units are giving way to designs where the driver can be swapped without replacing the whole fixture, which matters a lot on large public projects.

Finally, faster sample turnaround. Projects are being specified later in the schedule than they used to be, so a manufacturing partner's sample lead time has become a real competitive factor, not just a nice-to-have.