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Using Retail Lighting To Tell Customers A Shop Is Open |
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Home > Small Business Advice > Small Business Lighting > Using Retail Lighting To Tell Customers A Shop Is Open |
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Introduction – Using Retail Lighting To Tell Customers A Shop Is Open
Using lighting to tell customers that a shop is open is important if the shop opens outside ‘normal’ hours; for instance a garage or convenience store.
Customers can be confused between security lighting that remains on 24 hours a day and lighting that says ‘this shop is open’.
A retail outlet manager should look at the shop during the hours of darkness:
· Does the shop ‘look open’?
· Does the shop look a lot different to shops that are closed?
· Is the shop brightly lit?
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.
Sign light – a light that is outside the shop with, usually, the shop name; sometimes with a short logo for instance ‘Smith Winery – Purveyors Of Fine Wines’. The light is usually above a window and\or door.
How To Use Lighting To Tell Customers A Shop Is Open
Ensure you can dim the ‘sign light’ when the shop is closed – the most obvious sign that a shop is open is a bright sign light. The bright light says, ‘we are open’.
Most shops want to tell people ‘we are here’ when they are closed; use a sign light with different brightness settings – bright when the shop is open, dim when the shop is not open.
Use bright lighting in the shop window – a ‘high end’ shop can use a bright accent light on an item while the shop is open. The light can be dimmer when the shop is not open. An alternative is to use bright accent lighting AND ambient lighting when the shop is open; turn the ambient lighting off when the shop is not open.
A ‘mass selling’ shop can use bright ambient lighting when the shop is open and dimmer ambient lighting when the shop is closed.
Do’s And Don’ts – Tell Customers A Shop Is Open
Do:
· Do ensure that the shop ‘looks open’ – look at your shop from across the street at night – does the shop look open or closed?
· Do have flexibility with shop front lighting – ensure that lighting can be bright or dim for when the shop is open or closed.
· Do walk round a retail area at night – look what other shops do; copy what is good, don’t make the same mistakes as the bad.
· Do write down the objectives of shop front lighting; ensure the lighting meets the objectives and nothing more – don’t over complicate.
Don’t:
· Don’t put signs in the window that block lighting – the signs may block the window lighting making the shop look closed.
· Don’t ‘over complicate’ sign lighting – a simple sign is best. ‘Passing trade’ is just that – passing; potential customers do not have time to study your sign.
· Don’t do what YOU think is right – do what the customers think is right.
· Don’t use too many different types of lighting or levels of brightness – this can confuse passing customers.
Links
Small Business Lighting ‘Home Page’
Small Business Guideline Prices
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This webpage provides information about how to use lighting to tell customers that a shop is open.
The subject areas are:
· Introduction.
· Definitions.
· How to use lighting to tell customers a shop is open.
· Do’s and don’ts. |
