Lighting impacts everything at a retail store. It influences how a customer feels, shops, and how much a customer will spend. Do you want to know how your retail store lights affect sales and the risk of poor lighting? Learn how a GCE National lighting expert can help you increase sales through lighting!
Lighting Impacts Everything at a Retail Store, Including Sales
Lighting plays a vital role in retail stores. Not only do lights allow customers to observe products, but it also dictates how a person feels. For example, warmer and softer lights tend to set people at ease. On the contrary, brighter and harsher lights tend to engage people more.
Within a retail store, lighting determines how a person feels and if that person will return or not. If the store has many clashing lights, customers may feel distracted. Softer lights can calm a person’s mind and entice them to stay longer.
Lighting also impacts the atmosphere and mood of retail stores. Certain tones and colors can create a new environment. Choosing the proper tone and color is essential to establishing a welcoming ambiance.
The customer experience and overall atmosphere are not the only things impacted by retail store lights. Sales are also influenced by lighting. With the wrong lighting, sales and foot traffic can decrease. However, with good lighting, sales can increase!
How Lighting Affects Sales
As previously stated, good lighting should provoke an enjoyable experience for each person that enters the store. Good lighting can affect sales by its tone, color, placement, and fixture.
Tones control the quality of the lighting. Certain shades can be perceived as low-quality because they do not match the ambiance of the store. Tones can distract customers from your product.
Color also affects sales. An item may look elegant under a cool light yet look messy under a warm light. It is best to understand how lighting can distort your product.
Light fixtures can have both a positive and negative effect on customers. Dull, generic fixtures may bore customers if they are shopping in a sophisticated retail store. Similarly, you would not hang a glass chandelier in a western clothing store. The fixtures can excite customers, or they can confuse them.
Risk of Poor Lighting
Poor lighting can do more than affect sales. Poor lighting can also misrepresent your product, do a disservice to your space, and ultimately drive away your customers.
Misrepresents the Product
Consider what items you will be selling before purchasing lights because some lights may misrepresent your product. For example, if you sell sleek, high-quality watches, you will want to stay away from warm, yellow colors. Silver watches would not look good under the same lights that make bakery items look good.
Choose lights and colors that will enhance your product. Do not choose lights that will alter the product appearance. The lighting should emphasize the quality, textures, and colors of your product.
Disservice to the Space
If you choose only a single light and color, this could do a disservice to your space. By using only one shade of light, everything within the retail store will blend. Store owners that do not use multiple light sources can change the shape and size of their retail store.
Lights can be used to make stores appear larger. By layering various lights, rooms can look more open. Likewise, by not layering different lights, rooms can appear smaller.
Drive Away Customers
Unfortunately, lighting can drive away customers if it is not implemented properly. Poor lighting can overwhelm customers. If your retail store has too much light, customers may find themselves distracted and unable to focus on your products.
If your retail store does not have enough high-quality light, customers will be more focused on navigating than shopping. It is crucial to provide good lighting so that there are no hindrances for the customer. You want your customers positively engaged with your product and retail store.
How to Increase Sales Through Lighting
Using accent lighting, contrast lighting, and placement lighting can boost your retail store sales! Hiring a GCE National professional can also help you increase sales through lights.
Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is a great way to showcase products, signs, and sales. Accent lighting can highlight important signage to generate more sales. Accent lighting can also help customers explore your store. The more a customer explores, the more likely they are to purchase something.
Contrast Lighting
Contrast lighting can enhance the details of your product. Layering two different shades of lights will create a sense of flair and importance. You can achieve good contrast in a retail store by using both mood lighting and accent lighting. Contrast throughout the store directs a customer’s focus. Using contrast lighting allows retail stores to capture customers’ attention, keep them engaged, and keep them shopping!
Placement Lighting
Placement lighting can refer to backlight lighting, product lighting, and directional lighting. Backlighting is very similar to contrast lighting when lights are placed behind signs and products. The backlight makes signs and products stand out from their surroundings. Product lighting puts certain items on display. Using product lighting allows store owners to showcase their best-selling items and items they want to sell. Directional lighting pulls customers into the store and immediately grabs their attention. Retail stores should maximize their lights by highlighting items in columns or rows. Customers are more likely to gravitate to these items and, in turn, boost your sales!
Hire a Lighting Expert
To increase sales with lighting at your retail store, it is to your advantage to hire a lighting expert. GCE National has many employees that have been trained for lighting retail stores. A GCE National professional can help you determine how lighting affects your sales and how to increase sales with your lighting.
