Sale posters and coupons aren’t the only ways to make sales. You can use lights to your advantage, too. LED retail lighting can be used to create an environment that makes shoppers feel welcome and caters to their needs and expectations. Use LED store lighting to draw people in, to keep them focused, to guide them throughout your store, and to save money. There are so many ways that the right lighting can be beneficial to customer satisfaction and sales. Take a look at the following list of do’s and don’ts to achieve store lighting that will help you reach your goals.

There’s more to effective LED retail lighting than meets the eye. Creating an efficient lighting system that looks how you want while promoting products, making customers feel comfortable, and, in turn, increasing sales involves knowing the technical details of potential bulbs and fixtures. These details include efficacy, color-rendering index (CCT), and intensity.

Intensity/Lumens

In the past, the brightness of incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, or high-intensity discharge (HID) lights was measured by wattage. Now, a common method for measuring brightness is lumens. The higher the lumens, the brighter the bulb. Comparable wattage is always listed on our product pages for compatible products. If you’re upgrading from incandescent to LED and want a bulb or fixture that’s similar in brightness, you can use lumens for an estimate of what incandescent wattage would be. Simply remove the last number of the lumen value. The number that’s left represents estimated incandescent wattage. As an example, an LED light that emits 600 lumens is approximately as bright as a 60-watt incandescent bulb.

Efficacy

As a business owner or manager, you’re most likely concerned with getting the biggest bang for your buck. By paying attention to efficacy, you can make sure that you get the most light for the amount of power the bulb or fixture consumes. Efficacy is the amount of visible light that is produced with a certain amount of power (watts). You can determine the efficacy of a product by dividing its lumens by the watts it consumes. For example, a bulb that emits 480 lumens and consumes eight watts of power (480/8) has an efficacy of 60 lumens per watt. A bulb with this efficacy would be a much better option than one that emits 480 lumens at 12 watts.

CCT

CCT indicates the hue and tone of white light emitted from a specific bulb or fixture. CCT is measured in Kelvins (K), which is similar to degrees in Celsius. Different temperatures on the Kelvin scale represent different colors. For example, light at 2000K-3500K looks more orange/yellow and is called ultra warm or warm white, and as temperature increases in Kelvins, color changes to more of a “paper white” known as natural or neutral white (between 3500K and 5100K) and finally into a bluish-white known as cool white (5100K+).

The color temperature you choose will depend on the mood and shopping experience you want to give your customers. A retailer like Hollister for instance, who strives to create a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere, utilizes warm white and even ultra-warm white lights. Add on the cozy furniture setup and music and it’s clear that the goal is to get customers to hang out, relax, and spend more time in their store. Logic says that the more time you spend in a store, the higher the chances are that you’ll buy something.

Bed Bath and Beyond, on the other hand, uses a different approach to make sales. Their stores are filled with bright natural white light to showcase the wide variety of products that they offer. Customers are going to struggle in a store like BBB if it’s dimly lit. Knowing whether or not a shirt looks good is a lot different than buying new pots and pans. Dim light is flattering and more forgiving when customers are trying on clothes, but it won’t help you read whether or not your pans are dishwasher safe or scratch resistant. The lighting you choose should mesh well with the products you’re trying to sell. Using lighting to set the mood is a great idea so long as that mood doesn’t impact a customer’s ability to shop.

One of any retailer’s main goals when choosing lighting is to make sales. Use light to your advantage when trying to highlight certain things or create visual appeal. Make it obvious where new arrivals or sale items are. Use light to create a path that will guide customers through your entire store. Use LED sign modules for your store window or LED light boxes that feature your products. Anything unique, whether it’s cove lighting, lighting under a set of shelves, decorative light fixtures, or simply how you arrange your lights, is more likely to catch someone’s eye.

There are so many retail lighting options to choose from. Take a look at the list below to see some of the possibilities.

LED tube lights for fluorescent light fixtures

LED strips or puck lights for display case and shelf lighting

Retrofit can lights

Sign modules for store windows or creating custom signs

Canopy lights for outdoor overhangs

If your floor plan is constantly changing, it might be best to install a retail lighting system that can be changed as well. Track lights or gimbal and eyeball can lights can all be aimed in different directions. Depending on the products you’ll be displaying, you might also want to order new bulbs of varying intensities or color temperatures for these fixtures.

There are numerous places that are easy to overlook when planning your retail lighting project. Don’t forget the fitting rooms. This is where shoppers ultimately decide if a clothing item will work for them. Natural or warm white light is best, and a high-CRI LED light will show colors most accurately.

Illuminate aisles to guide customers through the store. Shoppers shouldn’t feel like they’re lost in a maze. Give them a sense of direction to know how to get where they want to go.

Don’t make it hard for customers to leave your store. Use LED light bulbs for exit sign backlighting and spotlighting. These lights are especially important during power outages or in emergencies.

If you’re putting your products on shelves, overhang from other shelves can cause shadows or limit light to the area. LED strip lights are a great solution for this. They have adhesive backings for easy installation, and most can be cut to fit the area that needs lighting. If you’re not crazy about the look of a strip under your shelves or if you want to eliminate hot spots (bright points of light), you can create your own LED strip light fixture using an aluminum channel and diffusing lens.

Make sure the checkout and customer service areas can be found easily in your store. Use different lighting or more lighting to make it stand out. Get creative with LED strip light fixtures around the counter, an edge-lit sign, or a custom-printed LED light box.

You might think that your parking lot has nothing to do with sales, but that is incorrect. If your parking lot is dimly lit, your store is not only less visible, but it’s also not as safe as it could be. A poorly lit parking lot can make customers feel uncomfortable and can lead to accidents. It can also be a problem for capturing security footage.  

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To see more retail lighting options, visit our commercial lighting category, indoor and outdoor LED lights can also be found in our light box, fixtures, landscape categories.

In the emerging world of green home technology, home buyers are looking for ways to increase their commitment to the environment with a new home purchase. Accordingly, you can increase the value of your home by retrofitting it with more green technology.

Solar panel installation is just such an improvement. A growing number of home buyers is interested in the self-reliance that comes from having a solar array as part of their residence. It doesn’t need to cover all the power needs of the home. On the contrary, just a small panel can be enough for some buyers and a larger array could turn some buyers off. But there are a few things to consider when upgrading your home with a solar panel installation.

As you install solar, it’s worth considering the possibility of recharging an electric car. Electric cars are becoming a greater part of the market every year and they require a specific infrastructure and recharging station to be a viable solution for many people. You can easily piggy-back the installation of a charging station with a solar installation, effectively doubling down on the increase in home equity.

There are also many passive solar technologies that make a good accompaniment to a solar array. Passive solar includes such things as increasing the amount of sunlight that can penetrate south facing windows in the winter and decrease them in the summer. It’s hard to underestimate the importance of augmenting your solar panel installation with such energy saving features. Not only are they attractive to home buyers, they also decrease the demands you place on your solar panels, saving you even more money. And that is the kind of smart investment that will make home buyers excited about doing business with you.

If you’re looking for a way to invest in the present and future of your home that is going to stand up to the test of time, give us a call so we can help you explore the tremendous potential of solar.

Imagine never having to go to the gas station again. While that may not happen just yet, you can certainly minimize the number of trips to the gas station to put fuel in your car if you have an electric car. However, some people who do have electric cars are finding they are looking for a station of another kind. An electric vehicle charging station. These stations are growing in popularity and are popping up all over, but it can still be a bit problematic for those that are on the go a lot. You need your own EV charging station install. Los Angeles homeowners who have an electric car and would prefer to charge it when they are at home and on their own time can give The Electric Connection a call.

The installation of an EV charging station can make your life a little easier. When you are at home, your car is charging. A charging station isn’t the same as the standard plug in option that comes with all electric cars. The stations charge the car at a much faster rate, which makes them so desirable in a world where we are constantly on the go. You don’t have to worry about leaving your car plugged in for a full 24 hours to get that full charge when you have your own charging station set up at your house.

The fast charging systems will need some electrical wiring, which is always best left to the professionals. You don’t want to risk electrocution or accidentally frying your new charging system. You also run the risk of putting your home in jeopardy of a wire shorting out, which can cause an electrical fire. It is best to have a certified electrician install the necessary wiring and the dedicated circuit needed to run the charger. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your electric car charging station installation.

Anytime you call on contractors to perform work for you, you want to make sure you are choosing a company that is delivering the best service on the market and is improving your home or business. That is true for hiring solar installers as well. When you hire solar installers, screen potential companies for the following traits:

You can expect the Electric Connection to satisfy all these conditions. We’re the leading solar installers in the Los Angeles area and are ready to set you up with a solar system that saves energy and money while we redefine your notions of exemplary contractors. Call us to start on the road to energy savings!