Retail Lighting

There are a lot of things that you need to consider when setting up your retail store. How your products will be displayed, the general layout of the store and the products you will merchandise are some of the factors you must consider. However, most retailers tend to overlook the need for an effective retail lighting design. With the appropriate lighting installed within a retail store, you will get more than just basic ambiance. Proper lighting might go as far as impacting the customer’s experience, subsequently influencing his/her decision to complete a purchase.

Sufficient lighting will also help your clients or customers safely navigate through the store and increase the customer’s speed too. Studies show that installing an effective lighting design that heightens the customer’s personality profile in a retail store can boost sales by 12 percent.

This article is a comprehensive guide on how you can leverage your retail store lighting to drive sales and customer satisfaction.

CREATING A WELCOMING ATMOSPHERE

The overall experience of the retail store depends on the physical aspects of the interior design. Proper lighting is one of the ways of creating a pleasant and welcoming atmosphere for your clients. How your customers feel while in your retail store affects their mood, their perspective of your brand, and ultimately whether they will make a purchase or not.

We will look at some of the ways to optimize LED lighting. Choosing the appropriate lighting design can have an emotional impact on the customers, and this will direct them to key merchandise. Apart from that, the lighting design installed will also affect how the customers perceive your products and brand.

To determine the kind of atmosphere you want to create, think of the experience you would like your customers to have in your store. Soft, warm lighting will make people feel more comfortable and relaxed, while bright light helps them see the products clearly.

FINDING YOUR LIGHTING FIXTURES

The lighting fixture you decide to use will play a significant role in creating a welcoming environment. You should select chandeliers, dome lightings, or vintage fixtures to create an intimate feel.

Suspended fixtures, track lighting, and recess will create a professional setting and mood. You can also break your retail space into multiple lighting designs and fixtures. The entrance should have a different lighting fixture from the one installed in the changing room.

However, it is important that you match the lighting fixtures with your product offerings and brand identity for a seamless blend.

CHOOSING A TEMPERATURE

You can also achieve a welcoming environment in your retail space with a cool or warm lighting color temperature. Each color temperature has its own benefits. A cool color temperature like cool white makes the room look more spacious. On the other hand, a warm color temperature creates an impression of familiarity and smallness.

If your store is small, you might consider using a cool color temperature to make it look and feel larger. But if you want to invoke a sense of nostalgia or familiarity, warm color lighting will do the trick.

TYPES OF RETAIL LIGHTING

There is a wide range of shopping center lighting, but here are some of the common ones:

AMBIENT LIGHTING

This alludes to the overall lighting design of the store. Ambient lighting sets the overall atmosphere of the retail store and has the greatest impact on the experience of the customers. The lighting fixture that evenly distributes light across the entire space is considered to be the ambient lighting.

ACCENT LIGHTING

These are spotlight-like lighting fixtures. They are used on the storefronts to draw the customers’ attention to the product offerings. You install accent lighting to highlight your products. This concept is more popular in luxury stores.

HIGH-ACTIVITY LIGHTING

Conventional lighting options will leave your store with shadowy spots and dark corners. High-activity lighting fixtures distribute the light evenly to every corner of the store. They are also bright enough to make sure that customers do not miss any detail on the products.

LED VS. TRADITIONAL LIGHTING

For a long time, people relied on fluorescent bulbs to light their retail spaces. However, we have seen most stores switch to LED lighting solutions. LEDs are energy-efficient and cost-effective.

Although any light may be considered useful, there are more benefits in installing LED lights compared to conventional lighting. LEDs are small, bright, and they illuminate target areas effectively, which are traits you require for effective shopping center lighting.

But how do you leverage LED lighting in your store? Studies show that the best LEDs may not be the only or most appropriate for the needs of your store. Other options such as fluorescent lights might be appropriate for general lighting, while LEDs would be best used as accent lights.

To find the best lighting fixtures that meet all the needs of your store, you might have to try several options. The end goal is to create a welcoming and comfortable environment as well as showing off the product offerings.

To collect ideas, you can walk through competitors’ stores and see how they are illuminating their products. You can then try the different lightings in your store and assess the one that shows the products in the best light.

You should not be tied to a single type of lighting fixture. For a more aesthetically appealing environment, consider installing different lighting fixtures throughout the retail space.

CREATING VISUAL HIERARCHY: THE PAYBACKS OF CONTRAST

High contrast is recommended for shopping center lighting because it heightens the level of attention and makes perception easier. By installing multiple sources of light in your retail space, you can enhance contrast around your brand’s product offerings. This draws customers’ attention towards the shelves with the products, making it easier for them to see all the details on each individual product.

You can create shadows around the displays and use spotlights to heighten the products on the shelves. You can also install lights at strategic places, pointing the light at the places you want the customers’ eyes to go.

The windows of the store should also be lit in a manner that entices prospective customers to walk into the store. You should install pinpoint accent lighting to highlight perceived contrasts. When there is insufficient daylight and, in the evening, low illuminance will be enough. Using high contrast lighting on the windows is the best way to catch the attention of a passerby.

PRODUCT-FOCUSED LIGHTING DESIGN (BACKLIGHTING)

The products and displays are not all created equally. You cannot heighten every space within the store with high-contrast light, for if that were the case, then there would be no contrast at all.

That means strong contrast should be used sparingly to focus on drawing the attention of your clients to new items, sales areas, and high-ticket products. To highlight large areas such as an entire display, you can use backlighting. Soft backlights are effective in drawing customers to shelves that are so low that they would otherwise be overlooked.

Backlighting will also help retain the attention of the customer on that particular shelve, especially if they are navigating through the different items. It can also be used to achieve a more intimate and softer environment because the lack of sharp contracts is appealing to the eye. Wide-space backlighting achieves a more aesthetic effect compared to accent lights by themselves.