Motorized Shades - Somfy vs. Lutron - Historical Perspective

Lutron vs. Somfy – Understanding their Respective Histories

“What is the difference between Somfy and Lutron?”

This blog intends to offer a complete answer to this common question. Knowing the history of each company and where they came from reveals the logic behind their respective strategies and the rationale behind their product offerings. The past informs the present.

Somfy, a French company, once supplied precision components to the European clock making industry in Montblanc. In 1967, the company entered the motorized awning industry, providing durable motors for exterior awning applications. Still today, Somfy is the market leader in awning motors. In the mid 1990s, Somfy leveraged its core competency of building tubular motors for opening and closing sun shielding awnings and introduced a line of motors intended for interior sun protection; window shades.

There are certainly similarities in the awning and window treatment business, generally, both contend with sunlight by extending and retracting (or raising and lowering) fabric. At first glance, it might seem that motorized window shades are simply interior awnings. However, the specific details of the interior window shade market are very different from the exterior awning market. In terms of products, there are a limited range of awnings styles, colors and fabrics. Choices for window treatments are practically unlimited. In this way, awnings are akin to garage doors whereas window treatments have more in common with fine furniture.

In deciding how to bring its motors to market, Somfy followed its successful model in the motorized awning industry where it sold motors to awning dealers and fabricators. In a similar way, Somfy opted to sell its motors to companies that sold traditional window shades. Here again, the industries were different. Awning providers were likely to possess construction skills whereas window shade dealers had a softer set of skills that leaned more towards design. These new dealers certainly did not have technical backgrounds in electronics or motors.

The challenge was teaching electronics and technology to a crowd more comfortable with fabrics and color matching. Somfy had to teach the basics of how to motorize shades using Somfy motors, how to plan wiring for shade power and control, how and when to involve an electrician and of course how to present and sell motorization to end users. Its success today is a testament to how well Somfy was able to educate its dealers. But one thing they did not foresee was a new competitor from a different industry…

Lutron traces its roots back to 1961, when it introduced the world’s first dimmer switch. Today, Lutron is a dominant player in the lighting industry. The company sells a wide range of products, from basic light switches in retail stores to elaborate, customized lighting control systems for residential and commercial applications through a network of dealers/installers.

Several factors contributed to Lutron’s decision to enter the motorized shade industry. First, as a lighting control company, Lutron knew that sunlight played a major role in a home’s overall lighting design. The company’s slogan is “Lutron Controls Your Light” and it saw that this could (should) be applied to ‘natural light’ as well as ‘artificial light’. Second, it was witnessing the window treatment industry fumbling with the technical aspects of motorization adoption. Third, new entrants into the lighting control field were challenging Lutron’s dominant position and pressuring margins. Fourth, a new market, termed ‘home automation’ was growing rapidly and lighting control was quickly becoming a sub component of total home automation systems. For all of these reasons, Lutron wanted (needed) to differentiate itself and its dealer base with what it hoped would be a ‘game changing’ product line.

In the late 1990’s, Lutron purchased Vimco, an established, medium-sized window shade company. Lutron then combined its newly developed, proprietary motor, the QED or Quiet Electronic Drive with Vimco shades. The QED made big waves in the industry for being practically noiseless. This was a classic example of redefining the parameters of competition in an industry. Before QEDs, consumers did not even know that motor noise level would become a factor in their purchase decisions. It took several years for Somfy to catch up to the QED’s noiselessness which gave Lutron a significant advantage as it launched its new motorized shading division. Despite this feature advantage, the company faced an uphill battle.

The opposite of Somfy’s dilemma, Lutron’s challenge was (and still is) teaching fabrics and color matching to a crowd more comfortable with electronics and technology. Lutron’s dealers had no experience in the window treatment industry. For this reason, Lutron recognized that simply providing motors and controls (like Somfy) would not be sufficient. Somfy’s path, informed by its experience in the motorized awning market, did not make sense for Lutron given their dealer base and channel structure. Lutron knew that to be successful, it had to make selling motorized window shades as easy as possible for its dealer network.

Recognizing that it had to teach a whole new industry to its lighting dealers, Lutron (wisely) started with functional ‘natural’ light control. This strategy was also dictated by the fact that Vimco manufactured a limited selection of functional solar and blackout window shades - all were roller shades. Over the years, Lutron has expanded its product offering to include a greater variety of styles and designs of motorized window coverings. Today, Lutron is a full-fledged window treatment fabricator. This presents new challenges and opportunities which will be covered in future posts.

Couched in this historical context one can now (hopefully) appreciate why each company offers what it does the way it does. From this vantage point, one can properly evaluate and appreciate the specific details and differences relating to product performance, available features and pricing. Subsequent posts will cover these important topics.

Motorized Shades - Somfy vs. Lutron Prewire Considerations

Lutron vs. Somfy – Prewire Considerations

This post is part of a series which intends to offer a complete answer to the question “What is the difference between Somfy and Lutron”

Today’s sophisticated home automation systems are designed and incorporated into architectural plans at the very early stages of a project. Lutron, through its vast network of dealers, has always been involved at this stage planning the wiring for its lighting and lighting control products. In this way, Lutron’s dealers are uniquely positioned to initiate the motorized window shade discussion at the outset. This has played a significant role in growing the overall market for motorized shades and has moved the decision point for which shade system is used much earlier on in the construction sequence.

This new reality is due to the fact that while Somfy (and all other shade motor manufacturers) use an open wiring architecture – Lutron’s is closed. How a house is wired for shades largely dictates which shades will be used. Lutron shades and controls use a specific wire. Why? Lutron’s engineers designed their shade solution to take full advantage of the fact that Lutron’s dealers are involved in wiring homes at the very early stages. Very clever! Using a proprietary specialized 7-conductor shading wire, Lutron and its lighting dealers are effectively able to ‘lock out’ non Lutron motorized shade solutions at the time of pre-wire.

Somfy has launched a “Somfy Expert Program” – which is a wide scale effort to educate window treatment dealers selling motorized shades and most importantly, integrators on how its motor and control technologies fit into overall smart home systems. Besides facilitating relationships between Somfy’s window treatment dealers and home automation companies, this affords Somfy an opportunity to be presented at the pre-wire and early planning stages of these projects. By facilitating partnerships and educating the players involved in pre-wire, Somfy’s solution is no longer boxed out of these critical early planning stages.

It is important to understand that not all homes have dedicated lighting control and home automation systems. For now, these systems are found only at the very high end of the market. Motorized shade systems are sold and wired in homes without sophisticated automation and lighting control systems and in these cases, Lutron has no entrenched wiring advantage since its dealers are not involved in these projects. But that is cold comfort to companies like Somfy, who found themselves boxed out of some preeminent projects by din of the wire chosen and now behind drywall. In a reactive measure, a couple years ago, Somfy even introduced a motor and adapter that can plug into Lutron’s special wire in an attempt to loosen Lutron’s hold on this niche market. Somfy’s recent efforts at educating the market are more enduring and comprehensive.

One must applaud Lutron for using technology to leverage its dealer’s position in the project planning phases. For its part Somfy has also used technology as an advantage to exploit certain weaknesses in the Lutron strategy. The next article in this series will explain how Somfy’s introduction of radio frequency (RF) motor control changed the game for motorized window shades.

Motorized Shades - Lutron QED Pricing Discussion

Lutron QED Shades - Pricing Discussion

Lutron's proprietary motorized shades, called Sivoia QEDs (QED = Quiet Electronic Drive) are an excellent product. They are very well made; from the shade material and bracketing components to the quiet motors and reliable controls. No other company provides a comparable 'end to end' solution like Lutron. Lutron makes the motors, the shades, the controls and even the wire for its products. Most motorized shades are made by combining motors from one company, brackets from another and shades from still another. Introducing multiple vendors leaves more room for product variability and specifically can mean that the overall look is not as 'finished' as a Lutron solution. (to be fair, frequently, shades are mounted in locations where much of this cannot be seen, but the 'finished' look concept extends further to Lutron's offering, as I will explain below)

In terms of performance, Lutron's motorized shades offer more features than other products. First of all, they are very quiet - hence the 'Q' in QED. Other motor manufacturers have since closed the gap on the quiet issue, but not totally. Lutron's QEDs also have intelligence (a microchip) in the motor which allows the control to 'know' where the shade is at any given time (this is called feedback). Other motor companies have similar capabilities but only in certain applications. Feedback enables two things, first the controller can show in percentage terms exactly where the shade is located, even if it is in a different location than the control. This is a bit gimmicky, I agree but the second feature is quite impressive. Namely, multiple Lutron shades can be almost perfectly aligned (something they call 'intelligent hembar alignment'). In rooms with multiple shades on different size tubes, this offers a very 'finished' (there's that word again) look. (to be fair, not all people care if there shades are perfectly aligned and non Lutron systems can come very close but like the quiet feature, not quite as close)

An analogy may (perhaps) be useful here. Lutron procures and combines the key ingredients and cooks the food for its dealers. It has excellent kitchen facilities and chefs that are proven. Its dealers then simply serve this delectable food to their client. Other motorized shade solutions are more like parts of the meal and the dealer must prepare (or at least combine) the food and serve the meal to client. Typically, the Lutron dealers pay more for a pre-cooked meal and charge more for this product in absolute terms (not necessarily in percentage terms). It is fair to say that if price is was not such a driving factor in many if not most cases, clients would switch to Lutron's cooking.

Lutron has perfected the sales and presentation of its products for its dealers. To extend my analogy, they help their dealers by preparing and printing the menus for them. Their quotes are done with a custom designed software program called the Shade Configuration Tool (SCT) which provides useful diagrams and details other non Lutron solutions do not match. Lutron provides food samples that are known to entice diners. Lutron marketing pieces are excellent, both visually appealing and informative. Lutron provides quality sample binders that are complete and professionally assembled. Lutron has upgraded the motorized shade selection experience and removed much of the possible variation out of motorized shade purchasing.

Other posts will discuss the rationale behind Lutron's unique sales approach and business model. This post addresses only the rationale for pricing differences. Lutron does cost more in most cases - this post attempts to explain why. Some of the key differences that result in the product commanding a premium price may not be sufficiently important to a client depending upon their needs, wants and budget.

Finally, it is very important to note that with any product that requires installation, the best product can dissappoint if the company installing is not competent and professional. Meaningful depth of installation expertise and high standards of customer service are the keys to any successful motorized shade job.