Lighting does more than allow customers to see what your store has to offer. Lighting selection, intensity and color used to illuminate merchandise can affect sales. How can you plan lighting that will encourage guests to see, and spend more? Consider these three compelling factors:
1. Lighting placement. A major mistake retailers often make is lighting the walkway. We don’t want customers to trip, but that can be addressed with sufficient lighting elsewhere. Face lighting toward wall merchandise and products displayed on floor fixtures.
Lighting shouldn’t face shoppers as they walk in. Ideally, lighting for floor units should be directed toward walls and point toward the back.
Lighting selection, intensity and color used to illuminate merchandise can affect sales.
2. Lighting levels. The three basic levels of illumination include ambient, accent and task lighting. I frequently suggest track lighting with a universal track head, as these are relatively inexpensive and readily available. I also use flood lamps (Parabolic Aluminized Reflector 38) to create ambient lighting and direct them diagonally in a crisscrossing pattern along the wall to illuminate inventory housed there. The same can be accomplished at nesting tables and other floor merchandising units.
For accent, I use PAR20 for a concentrated brighter light focusing on focal displays. I usually end up with a ratio of four flood lamps to one focal lamp. Another lighting enhancement is to add pendants above feature tables to draw attention. For task lighting at the cash counter, pendant lamps create a more intimate atmosphere.
3. Brightness. Brightness refers to color temperature. Warmer or warm whites give off a golden hue, while cool temperatures emit a bluish tone. Most of the time, grocery stores use brighter, more natural lighting of about 4,000 Kelvin. An intimate selling space might use a lower range, such as 2,500K to 3,500K.
Aside from placement, levels and brightness, the amount of lighting in a given space is crucial. The minimum is 20 lumens per square feet of selling space. For display tables, increase the limit to 30 lumens.
Finally, true color rendering is essential. For effective lighting, avoid light fixtures that distort the true color of an item. When purchasing light bulbs, look for the CRI. This refers to the Color Rendering Index. The higher the index, the more accurate the color looks. CRIs that are 80 to 90-plus are excellent.
