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LUX Magazine reported five ways LED technology can attract customers into stores and boost sales.

Effective lighting has always been a key component of store design. Abercrombie & Fitch might have made its stores stand out by turning down the lights to create a nightclub vibe, but LED technology now gives retailers a wealth of opportunities to both boost sales and cut electricity bills.

Thanks to the unprecedented level of flexibility and control offered by LED lighting, retailers can use it to show off their products more attractively, tailor store ambience to the season and ensure customers look their best.

When planning a lighting scheme for a retail store, designers will be looking to strike a balance between creating depth and drama while ensuring lighting is still practical.

While it is true that LED lighting requires more upfront investment than older technologies, the hefty savings on energy consumption mean that this cost is soon recouped – even before factoring in any extra sales. LED lighting cuts down the electricity devoured by halogen lamps by at least a factor of five and because it needs far less frequent replacement will also save on future maintenance costs. Add what will become a far more pleasant working environment for retail staff to those green credentials, plus the potential for boosting sales, and the case for LED lighting is crystal clear. Here are five tips for lighting up retail sales while boosting those green credentials:

• Harness the directionality of LED lamps – LED chips are, by their nature, directional, and this can add stopping power to window displays. LED-based accent lighting brings out rich textures and adds depth to high-quality materials and surfaces.The flexibility of the technology means that colours and hues can be tailored to fashions or seasons. To avoid turning your all-important shop window into an expensive mirror, make sure to apply higher lighting levels to the display and to minimise the use of dark rear walls.

• Make customers look their best – The fitting room experience is absolutely critical to customers. Making the customer look their best is going to enhance the likelihood of a sale – so it’s out with harsh, blue-tinged fluorescent lamps and hot traditional spotlights, and in with adaptable LED lighting.Tailor that light for the potential purchase: use soft, warm, even red tones in the lingerie department but imitate bright daylight for shoppers looking to buy outdoor clothes or sportswear. Efficiency is another obvious advantage. Less heat from spotlights makes customers more comfortable in the store.

• Add sparkle to displays – You want to direct shoppers’ attention to high-quality products inside glass cabinets, or on racks and shelves. Exploit the flexibility offered by LED lighting to illuminate leather goods with warm white tones, but switch to a cooler white for suits or jeans. For cabinets containing jewellery, add sparkle by using multiple point sources of light from directional LED lamps.

• Bring out true colours – Some of the most vibrant colours in nature are to be found in fresh food. Bring out the true colours of natural produce with illumination provided by a lighting system with a high colour rendering index (CRI), particularly using lamps that deliver excellent R9 values for red.Verbatim’s VxRGB phosphor technology, which has been designed with retail applications in mind, uses a unique combination of red, green and blue phosphors to a violet, rather than a blue, LED chip, the colour perception of objects under VxRGB illumination appear more vibrant compared to conventional LED or halogen lamps which may have a higher CRI value. It makes whites whiter; it brings out natural skin tones and improves contrast. In particular, reds, pinks and violets appear more vivid and navy blues are especially vibrant and easy to discern from black.

•  Refrigerator lighting – The chilled and frozen foods aisle of the supermarket is where LED lighting can really come into its own. Not only does the lack of waste heat produced by the LED chips mean that less chilling is required compared to fluorescent lamps, but the physics behind LED chips means that they actually work more effectively – and last longer – in a cooler environment. LED lighting also produces no ultraviolet light and this fact means there is considerably less spoilage of fresh foods in comparison to fluorescent lighting.

Novel Energy Lighting sells LED lighting to retail outlets, hotels and other large clients. Products are carefully selected for their quality and durability, so we focus on delivering trusted LED brands such as Philips, Megaman, Osram, and Heathfield A variety of lamps and fittings is on offer for fitting out new stores, or retrofitting existing ones. Popular products include LED AR111 lamps, GX53 lamps, tracking lighting, and LED ceiling panels. Most are dimmable, and can be controlled via DALI, DMX, or standard dimmers. We are happy to work with customer on lighting plans, and provide energy efficient finance to cover the upfront investment.

LED · led lighting · LED lights · LED technology · lux magazine