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Using Retail Lighting To Sell |
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Home > Small Business Advice > Small Business Lighting > Using Retail Lighting To Sell |
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Introduction – Using Retail Lighting To Sell
Lighting is part of the selling process; use light to sell.
A retail outlet can use lighting at every stage of selling:
Use lighting to:
· Get customers into the shop.
· Create the ‘right atmosphere’.
· Guide customers through the shop.
· Help make the sale.
· Make the sales assistant’s job easier; to increase efficiency.
Know your customer, if the lighting ‘feels right’ it probably is.
Definitions
Ambient lighting – the main lighting. Shops have lighting that provides most light in the shop and accent lighting (see below) that lights individual products or cabinets.
Accent lighting – directional lighting that is used to light up small areas, for instance a spotlight onto a single item, or cabinet, in an ‘high end’ shop.
High end shops – shops that sell products at a relatively high cost, for instance jewellers and wedding dress shops.
Mass selling shops – shops that rely on high volume of sales of relatively cheap products, for instance ‘fruit and veg’ shops and convenience stores.
Get Customers Into The Shop
Lighting should tell customers the shop is open. Whatever the style of lighting ensure it tells customers the shop is open. Ask, ‘How does a passing customer know the shop is open?’
Lighting should also help customers to see what you sell. Use lighting to highlight the display products. If the storefront window has a few items use spotlights to highlight the products. If the storefront window has many items use bright ‘ambient’ lighting to light the whole window. Ask, ‘Is it obvious what the shop is selling?’.
Shop front lighting ‘sets the tone’ of the shop; a shop that sells high value products, for instance wedding dresses, may ‘spotlight’ a single wedding dress. A ‘fruit and veg’ shop will have many products in the window with bright ambient lighting – the window looks well lit and bright. Ask, ‘Is the lighting right for my shop window?’ If you ‘know your customers’ the answer will be obvious.
Create The ‘Right Atmosphere’
The answer is hard to describe but easy to recognise.
The lighting in some shops ‘feels right’, in other shops the lighting ‘feels wrong’.
Go into shops that are similar to the shop that you are designing lights for – how do similar shops use lighting?
‘High-end’ shops – low ambient (background) lighting, spotlight (accent lighting) on individual products or groups of products. Have brightly lit areas near products so customers can examine the product.
Mass selling shops – bright ambient (background) lighting so customers can see what is on the shelf and read labels – extra illumination onto shelving or in display cases.
Colours – not for mass selling, maybe for high-end shops.
Don’t ‘over illuminate’ – too much lighting can be confusing.
Don’t use too many different types of light – visually confusing.
Older customers need brighter lighting – don’t forget the practical when creating the ‘right atmosphere’.
Know the customer; ask, ‘Does the lighting ‘feel’ right’?
Guide Customers Through The Shop
High end shops can use accent lighting to create a route through a shop.
Items, or cabinets, that have accent lighting can be used as a series of beacons that show the route through the shop.
Customers are drawn to areas of accent lighting; customers will see the next area of accent lighting as the destination for the next leg of there journey through the shop.
Use accent lighting to guide customers to the next point on there journey; in aviation terms create ‘way points’; create a series of locations along the route through the shop.
Mass selling shops – difficult to guide customers through the shop using lighting. Mass selling shops have high ambient lighting so creating ‘beacons’ is very difficult – you cannot achieve the difference in lighting brightness.
Help Make The Sale
All shops need somewhere the customer can inspect the goods. Provide the level of light that customers need to inspect the goods near to where the goods are on display.
Illuminate the goods on sale to show them at there best.
High end shops can provide a brightly lit area near to where the goods are on sale so it is not an inconvenience to inspect the goods.
The high end shop must also think about what colour of light is best for the goods; use soft colours that compliment the product.
Mass selling shops – the ambient light should be bright enough so customers can see what is on the shelves and read the labels – don’t make it difficult for the customer to inspect what they may buy.
Certain goods, for instance vegetables, look better in certain, usually bright, lighting. Visit a local supermarket, for instance Tesco or ASDA (UK), and see what how large supermarkets light up products. Use the same lighting techniques the ‘big boys’ use.
Make The Sales Assistant’s Job Easier
Making the sales assistant’s job easier is about practicalities.
The point-of-sale should be brightly lit so the sales assistant, for instance, can read the numbers on credit cards and price tags.
Light the point-of-sale area from above – don’t dazzle the sales assistant.
Provide light in point-of-sale shelving and cupboards – the sales assistant should be spending time taking money not looking for items in a dark cupboard.
Links
Small Business Guideline Prices
Small Business Lighting ‘Home Page’
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This webpage provides general advice on retail lighting.
The subject areas are:
· Introduction.
· Definitions.
· Getting customers into the shop.
· Creating the ‘right atmosphere’.
· Guiding customers through the shop.
· Help make the sale. |
