Retail Spaces
Windows set the tone, communicate your store's image and invite customers inside.
The shop window is the number one sales generator of every retail store. Lighting plays a crucial role it conveys a statement not merely about the kind of goods on sale but also creates an attitude, atmosphere and even ethos of the shop.
Our Country being known for its huge malls and countless retail stores is yet being quoted by a well known architectural magazine to be Asia’s badly lighted city, isn’t that ironic? There are a few good reasons, 1st is the high electric costs, 2nd is the limited and expensive lighting fixtures and light bulbs, 3rd is being mislead by other lighting dealers claiming that they do know lighting design.
There are a lot of ways to deal with this problem without spending a fortune and one of those and I consider it as the most important of all is deciding the kind of atmosphere you want to create on your shop. For those experienced retailers who are reading this, we all know that highlighting (using narrow or medium beam spotlight with barely lighted backgrounds) are commonly used on high end stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Burberry, Etc. and for not so expensive brands a very bright and fairly uniformed intensity general lighting is usually used.
If you choose highlighting as your lighting concept, this concept must be followed all throughout the entire store, same goes with the general lighting concept, mixing lighting designs don’t usually work but we are not telling you that you can not do that. Lighting can definitely set the mood from just window shoppers to buyers and that is if the right light setting is achieved. Many of you might not conform to this theory and blame either the economy or the location. There is no such thing as a continuous booming economy or a perfect location it is all about making these customers to enter your store, making these customer to feel interested with your product is totally impossible with bad lighting, having a very bright store doesn’t mean your lighting is good, you can only assume that you have good lighting when the true colors of your merchandise is revealed, you are not suffering with high electric costs and the temperature of the shop is maintained on a comfortable level.
Price, quality and maintenance costs must be considered when choosing the right light. Most branded lighting fixtures and light bulbs are quite expensive but there is nothing much that we can do on that part because always remember if you choose premium over quality there is always an ultimate price to pay which is either high electric and maintenance costs or worst your investments turning to ashes, so I strongly suggest design your light properly hire a professional or buy books that can teach you the right way to do it, know your alternatives, do your own research, do not rely totally on your lighting supplier most of them offer what they have on stock and not really what is best for you.
Lighting FAQS for Retailers
The factors you should consider when selecting a lighting system… The amortized cost of the lighting system over its life impacts your bottom line. While energy is often the largest component, energy savings between lighting systems are often off-set by higher maintenance and disposal costs, or can off-set the acquisition cost of more expensive systems.
Choosing the right lamps for your retail applications… An incandescent lamp and lamp holder may be the lowest initial cost system. However, the maintenance cost of replacing the lamps every 7-8 weeks is considerable. Additionally, this system is extremely inefficient with significant energy consumption. Energy saving lamps that are direct replacements for standard lamps it begins saving energy upon installation.
Emotional Impact of Lighting… To engage the customer, the retailer must create the right environment. A customer who is comfortable while shopping may stay longer, spend more money and enjoy coming back time and time again. Lighting is capable of setting a scene and creating the desired mood and feeling to support the brand of the store. Three themes emerge when examining the retail environment: functional shopping, inspirational shopping and social shopping.
Functional shopping is all about buying the necessities of life. In our hectic world, with leisure time strictly rationed, we like to do this efficiently and as pleasantly as possible. This means lighting that not only gives guidance in the store, but is linked to the biorhythms and needs of the customer. Lighting concepts must take into account that a customer shopping after work at 7 pm may be in different mood, and has different lighting needs, to one shopping at 8 am before work.
Inspirational Shopping is an alternative leisure activity, a way of pleasantly filling your free time. The actual purchase will only be made when the product inspires and excites you. To achieve this, the lighting will also have to be inspiring and theatrical.
Social Shopping is the final trend. Here, the actual purchasing of goods is almost incidental, with shopping seen as a way to meet people of similar ages and tastes, to socialize. Think of a lounge area in the bookstore, drinking coffee at Armani and even singles night at the supermarket. Lighting has to suit this social activity, to be comfortable, cozy, and even flirtatious.
Experiencing the brand… From the storefront and display windows to the dressing rooms and the storage areas, lighting plays a major role in how the customer experiences your brand. Lighting can be used to attract the customer into the store, draw their attention to specific products, create atmosphere by grazing a wall or highlighting architectural features, create a more open feel with cove and indirect lighting, highlight specific products in a display case and create customer flow throughout the store.
Lighting solutions for Visual Merchandising
Ambient Lighting… This provides the general lighting for the space, setting the mood of the store and the general tone of the space it also provides a general diffuse layer of uniform lighting. Low light levels are considered 15-30 foot candles, and high light levels are considered in the 50-100 foot candle range. Light levels vary depending on the store image.
Perimeter Lighting… This helps define merchandising spaces and provides the vertical lighting necessary for wall displays and generally makes the space feel larger. The purpose of perimeter lighting is to draw customers from the main aisle into the merchandising space.
Architectural Lighting… It creates an experience. Incite a feeling. Define a brand. Make a memory. All of this can be achieved with the right architectural lighting. Create intimacy within vastness, provide privacy, inspire a moment, all within the conventional boundaries of the built in environment.
Cove Lighting… Opens the space, elevating the ceiling and enhancing the architecture with long shadow free uninterrupted lines of light, provides a sense of openness and spaciousness.
Wall Washing… Draws the customer into the space and builds depth. High intensities can increase the perceived brightness of the space.
Dressing Room… The dressing room is where the purchase decision is made. High quality of light is needed to provide form and texture to the merchandise and make colors appear natural and realistic. Lighting must be complimentary to the type of merchandise being sold.
Cash Wrap… Final purchase decisions are made at the register as well as tasks performed by the cashier. Point of Purchase displays require good illumination with good color rendering to highlight the merchandise.
Accent Lighting… It emphasizes the shape, texture finish and color of the product. Point sources are ideal for accent lighting because they can be controlled and directed, providing the focal lighting required. Luminaries and lamps used for accent lighting are typically described by performance characteristics such as beam spread.
Display windows… Attract customers with drama, engaging the passerby emotionally with intense white or colored light uniform saturated illumination.
Feature Area and Back Wall… This provides visual clues about key products, highlights merchandise while drawing customer’s attention through the space by engaging their curiosity.
LED
Let’s talk about LED’s (Light Emitting Diode) these LED’s are now very famous because its environmentally friendly concept but wait are these LED’s really environmentally friendly or another fiasco? In some points I can say that it is true LED’s are environmentally friendly because of the absence of mercury which is usually found on fluorescent lamps and the low electricity requirement these LED’s need to operate but for the heat factor this is the part even I am confused, have you ever tried touching the LED’s back part (the aluminum heat sink)? If you did, you know for sure what I meant and for those who haven’t please don’t even dare, the brighter the LED’s the hotter it is, if you will compare the heat of a 1000 lumen LED’s produces to the same 1000 lumen CFL you will surely be shocked with the results. LED’s is hotter than any other light source that is why it needs aluminum heat sinks, have you ever encountered a fluorescent or other special lamps or even an ordinary bulb that has heat sinks? Probably no, if these LED’s are too hot then it is not really environment friendly.
When it comes to performance, LED’s can never outperform a halogen bulb, here's the reason and it’s called "spectrum", with all these alternative light sources. Non-incandescent light sources simply don't put out a full or even continuous spectrum of light. It is why we instinctively know something's wrong with the light. For instance, fluorescent usually has a pronounced green spike and whole sections of the spectrum missing altogether. Try shooting film under that light. And it will prove very challenging. We know that with the tireless efforts of those companies who manufacture fluorescent lamps, it is fair to say that it’s getting better, but to make it work, multiple phosphors must be applied to the inside of the tube, each one fluorescing at a different spectrum. Together, you get "white" light. To make full-spectrum light they really need to be sophisticated. And you don't find such bulbs for Php100.00 at your local grocery store. LED’s are similar. They like to put out very specific wavelengths. That's why you can get a blue, green or red LED. White LED’s are getting better, but we still sense something is missing or wrong. They're like lasers they are very bright, but annoying. The sun is the baseline, that's really full spectrum. Incandescent is closest because it's basically a controlled burn that emits full spectrum, but limited at the blue end. So if you are looking for a light source that can bring out the true colors then definitely LED’s is out of your list.