Spot on: How the right shop lighting makes retail shine
Attention, ambience, impulse to buy: So many tasks. Light fulfils them all.
When people specifically head for the most expensive item in the shop, reach for the freshest piece of meat in the refrigerated section, the most appetising bread on the shelf, the latest item on the clothes rail, then light is very often the trigger. Retail lighting makes the most effective difference to online sales. Because the most beautiful website cannot showcase products in the same way as real light in the shop. Generating desirability, creating identity, offering recognition – this takes place on site. At the point of sale, where sales promotion using light has a direct effect. Shop operators are enthusiastic about this. And this is where planners, architects and electricians can convince. So can stand builders and shopfitters.
Shop lighting: The 5 top tasks for increasing sales thanks to light
Yes, it is the lighting of the façade and the right light for shop windows if you want to attract the attention of walk-in customers and arouse interest. This is how you bring people into the building, the store, the shop. And this is where openness and an inviting expanse replace the fear of thresholds. Light draws attention to products that need to be shown in the right light: to sell faster, to generate additional sales, for special offers, so that goods turn over faster. Basic lighting provides orientation in the shop itself. Spot lighting can emphasise individual products. And effect lighting or accent lighting sets the mood, emphasises the room architecture and provides information.
New light sales assistant: set it right away
Retailers are working on a tight budget. Trends are here and gone again. Nowhere does the pulse beat faster. Strolling and shopping, that’s seeing and indulging. Retailers need much more to keep the tills ringing: light increases dwell time. But it can also lead you to your destination more quickly. Light soothes. Light can flatter. Light creates harmony between product range, architecture and spatial effect. Light can reactivate dead areas and enhance space. Light can eliminate inhibitions. Light can create moods, tell stories, conjure up atmosphere, intensify customer proximity. And increase the quality of stay. All of this has a positive effect on the image of the shop, the shop, even an entire centre and on the purchasing behaviour of customers.
Ambience, impact, quick solutions, preferably modular – that’s what retailers need. In holistic concepts from façades and shop windows to product staging with islands of light that allow colourfast and brilliant product presentations, for example.
Be inspired by our diverse range.
General lighting, spotlight, effect: why retailers need suitable lighting solutions
It’s the same for all of us: if a shop is divided into zones, it’s easy to find your way around. You find your way around, you feel comfortable. The situation is different if the lighting is uniform. You experience this as monotonous and may find yourself lost in the middle of a collection of products. Nothing is decided, nothing is found, nothing is bought. What helps? Lighting scenarios that show how the routes are, where product areas begin and end, accents that you deliberately set to boost sales, effects that you use specifically to set the mood. This is how light becomes one of your top sellers.
How are the different types of lighting used? General lighting illuminates rooms evenly. Spot lighting emphasises individual aspects and illuminates specific areas. Effect lighting creates accents and can influence the mood.
Lighting planners ask these questions about shop lighting
Cosy and familiar, bright and invigorating, cool and cosmopolitan, deliberately anonymous and busy, cosy or catchy, what should the atmosphere in the shop be like, the centre, the boutique, the supermarket, the sales floor? What is being sold? Clothing? Beauty? Fresh produce? Furniture? Cars? Optics? Art? How big are the rooms? What is the architecture like? What is the context of the rooms? Who should buy? Men, women, many older people? And what task should the lighting fulfil? Light can contribute so much to sales – and make a decisive contribution to turnover. It’s great when customers feel comfortable. And when employees want to stay. And: money should also be left lying around.
Sales promotion in retail: what makes the difference for lighting designers
Anyone planning for retail does not have their private life in mind. It can be bright in retail. Older people also want to be able to read labels. Women are inspired by different light colours than men. And: even if warm light colours are perceived as cosier, they are obviously not more sales-promoting. What helps? It tends to be the white light colours that achieve a high level of brightness. What do you need to consider so that the light doesn’t appear cold? It’s the Kelvin number. Light only appears cold when a white light colour with a high Kelvin number and relatively low illuminance is selected.
Another factor also determines the faithful presentation of the goods: the light quality, measured in the colour rendering index. The higher the value, the more true-to-life the colour of the goods is displayed.
And flexibility is also an issue in the shop. Again and again, every time there is a redecoration. So it makes sense if the lighting is always aligned to the place where the best offers are presented. Or: if the lighting can be moved easily. Track systems are suitable here, matching the room architecture and furnishings.
Which lights specifically where?
If you want people to take notice, brightness contrasts are ideal for the shop window. This allows the goods in the window to stand out from the background and appear present and contoured. Track systems with swivelling spotlights are particularly suitable here. You can simply attach the spotlights to any point on the track and direct them as required. If your aim in the sales room itself is to give your customer a good overview, it is best to ensure balanced ambient lighting in the room. This means illuminating vertical surfaces and the depth of the room in particular. How do you illuminate beyond this? For boutiques, it is space-orientated general lighting. Luminaires are used specifically in individual areas of the room.
We like decorative pendant lights that match the shop theme, e.g. in industrial style or in a classic style. Ceiling lights, such as our recessed downlights, are very discreet. And we also have wall lights for effect and accent lighting in our programme. Islands of light are beautiful. Because not the whole room has to be brightly lit. Different levels of brightness give rooms their very own vibrancy, atmosphere and dynamism.
Beauty, cosmetics, hairdressing, clothing, living and design – exact colour reproduction is particularly important everywhere. And customers also want to know what they are getting when it comes to food. This is why special LED chips are used for specific lighting tasks, for example when selling meat, bread and vegetables, for clothing and at hairdressers. Here, too, customers want to see exactly what colour they are wearing, both on their body and on their head. Our LED Stripes immediately provide full brightness with a long service life and low heat generation. In addition to our LED strip lighting systems, specialist stores also like to use wide-beam luminaires. Discount stores work with high illuminance levels of up to 1,000 lux, while boutiques and exclusive shops make do with subdued light of around 300 to 500 lux.
Setting accents on shelves, walls and in aisles? Put the goods in the right light? And work with different brightness levels? This can be achieved with wide-angle LED Stripes, spotlights parallel to the shelves or swivelling downlights. It is best to direct the light onto the products, while traffic zones and aisles are moved into the background.
As a luminaire manufacturer, we have the solutions. So that you can plan and install more easily.
