12/1/2019
Illuminating the Way to Better Retail
Ty McTigue
LED lighting can have serious impacts on the retail experience for store owners, employees and customers. Beyond immediate energy savings, superior light quality and easy controllability, LEDs can make both the property outside and merchandise inside more appealing to shoppers, which has the opportunity to make a big impact on the bottom line.
Here are a couple of examples of how LED lighting can transform a store via signage, flow, layout optimization and connectivity to more expansive control systems.
Pictured: First impressions aren’t everything, but they aren’t nothing, either. A sign that stands out is enough to get someone who may not have noticed a store to step inside, and one with flickering or faded out letters might be enough to deter them from checking it out. Once customers are on the showroom floor, impressive signage can create an ambiance and inspire shoppers to engage with particular products or want to share their in-store experience online.
Macy’s concept store “STORY” uses Tetra Contour lighting from GE Current to create an illuminated rainbow tunnel, meant to drive foot traffic into the store and encourage shoppers to post about their experience on social media.
Pictured: With high-quality lighting, retailers can also ensure that their products are being properly displayed. LED fixtures have the benefit of being able to aim light hemispherically—that is, in specific directions. In retail environments, this means light can be precisely pointed where it’s needed, bringing a dazzling display to life or clearly illuminating key merchandise on shelves and down aisles.
Not only can LEDs ensure the correct products are being highlighted, but the fixtures can also be customized to ensure products are being displayed with accurate, attractive color quality while remaining energy efficient.
Current’s trademarked reveal TriGain technology, for instance, is a narrow-band red phosphor that increases both the color rendering index (CRI) and R9 (a saturated red critical to color accuracy) without reducing lighting system efficacy. The result is vivid hues that bring fresh appeal to fabrics, produce and more.
Pictured: Connected lighting systems are a platform for IoT applications that can support everything from store layout optimization to maintaining a perfectly inviting environment that puts shoppers at ease. The ubiquity of lighting and its unobtrusive bird’s-eye view of shoppers can identify common behaviors without intrusion, and help store owners make alterations to improve the experience moving forward.
Ultimately, customer-sensing data captured by connected infrastructure can help retailers anticipate buying behaviors and move more inventory through special offers and highly targeted incentives. At the same time, data collection can support efforts to analyze merchandise mix and determine which strategies are making the biggest impact on the in-store experience. GP
Tyler “Ty” McTigue is the Strategic Account Manager at GE Current, a Daintree company. He specializes in developing collaborative models to bring about digital, energy-saving solutions for retailers. He has a passion for sustainability, education and disruptive technology.