Lighting is a crucial factor to consider in retail spaces, as this could have a significant impact on the sales and the customer turnout in the store.
When a customer enters your retail store and doesn’t get a good vibe, no matter how amazing your collection is, they would roam around and leave without buying.
Lighting either holds the customers longer or leads them to leave because of discomfort.
To ensure that the retail lighting design at your store meets the right setup, you must follow some essential guidelines below in this article, so let’s walk through them.
Factors to Consider in Retail Lighting Design
When designing a retail store, many things require attention, and some important factors associated with the lighting design include the following.
Understanding the space
Lighting can only be set up by understanding the store’s space from every angle. Some critical considerations in this regard may include the following:
- Store size and layout
Some stores are smaller, and some are huge; if you have a smaller store, you can efficiently play with the lighting and make it look bigger.
- Ceiling height
Depending on the store’s layout, the ceiling height is sometimes too much and sometimes too little. This is also an essential factor when planning the lighting setup.
When the ceiling height is too much, the lights can be in a hanging style or should be bright enough to add brightness to the store.
- Color scheme
Every retail store has a different color scheme depending on the nature of the business. For instance, the sanitary store would have a light-toned color scheme to make the sanitary items visible in brighter tones. So, the lights must also be on the brighter side.
Identifying the product
The product being sold in a retail store also needs to be considered when the lighting design is being planned.
- Color and texture of the product
Depending on the nature of the business, the products will have different colors. For instance, when it is a shoe store, the brightness of the light is essential; too much darkness and warm lights in the store won’t go well.
- Product placement
The way products are placed is another matter to take into consideration, for instance, some products like jewelry may be placed on a shelf that has portions, and hence the track lighting could be a better thought in this case.
Target Audience
The kind of audience being targeted by the store also helps in designing the store’s lighting plan.
- Demographics of the customers
Demographics of customers means what kind of nature your customer possesses or what type of market you have targeted. If you have a luxury brand store, a mix and match of luxury lighting features with a touch of accent and ambient lighting would be needed.
- Shopping behavior
The way customers move through your store tells a lot about the behavior of customers and obviously how light attracts them. Lights predict moods and emotions, so lighting could be a tracking system to assess which products your customer would go to.
Types of Lighting
There are many kinds of lighting, and every type of lighting has its purpose and usage; some of them are discussed below:
Ambient lighting
Ambient lighting is the main lighting of the store, and it sets the mood; this light will interact with the rest of the lighting types you implement in the store. Ceiling lights, recessed downlights, track lights, or wall-mounted lighting fixtures achieve ambient lighting.
Accent lighting
The primary purpose of accent lighting is to focus on or highlight the products. Hence they are usually installed on shelves where products are kept and must be enhanced so that illumination attracts the customers.
Semi-flush mounts, chandeliers, and pendant lighting fixtures can be used to put this kind of lighting to purpose in a retail store.
Task lighting
Task lighting, as the name suggests, is the lighting of the area where tasks are being carried out, for instance, the cash tills, changing rooms, meeting areas in the store, etc. Such areas need bright lights so that the customers can see everything.
Ceiling spotlights or track lights in a retail store could be great in a bright yellow tone for task lighting.
Track lighting
Track lighting helps add a focus on the products placed in the form of a track that is in the form of a series to catch the attention of customers.
To create the track lighting on the shelves, spotlights could be used in a series, and to have it done generally for focusing a particular area, the ceiling lights also have a track spotlight.
Recessed downlighting
Recessed downlights add focus to the products without being too overpowered or bright, yet they can catch the attention of the buyers.
Recessed downlights can be used to focus a corner of products in the retail store with a normal color temperature that is balanced.
Lighting Techniques
Layering Lighting
Layering lighting means adding multiple kinds of lighting to one space to add life.
Layering lighting might include multiple color temperatures that help strike a balance in the retail store. The best practices will blend chandleries, recessed downlighting, and spotlighting.
Contrast Lighting
Contrast lighting allows one to pick the lights depending upon the king of the products; for the darker products, brighter lighting is used, and for lighter ones, warm lights may be suitable.
Adding light scones, track lighting, and chandeliers could significantly improve the contrast of a retail store.
Highlighting Lighting
The highlighting lighting may be needed in the retail stores to focus on specific products.
Highlighting lighting can be achieved by adding spotlights, recessed downlights or track lights over the products needing focus.
Retail Lighting Design Guidelines
General lighting tips
Some general tips that every retail store must follow when it comes to lighting design may include the following:
1. Lighting color temperature
In a retail store, the general color temperature must be between 2500K to 4000K; these color temperatures give balanced lighting that is neither too bright nor too dull.
2. Lighting Placement
Similarly, the placement of light is also essential, and the right placement would make the retail store look great, in the shelves opting for track lights or spotlights could be the best approach. In comparison, the ceiling lights must follow the ambient lighting type with recessed downlight fixtures.
Specific lighting tips
Other than the general lighting tips for retail stores, some of them must specifically be lightened depending on their product range, and these will comprise the following:
1. Apparel stores
The color temperature to be followed in the apparel stores must be around 3000 K to 3500K, which is on the lower side. The lighting to be chosen must include LED spotlights, track lighting, and task lighting.
2. Grocery stores
In a grocery store, the suitable color temperature amounts to 3500 to 4500K, which is brighter due to the nature of the products and customer behavior.
The lighting fixtures and types will comprise task, decorative, ambient, and LED light fixtures, which are the best and most energy efficient.
3. Jewelry stores
Jewelry stores can be lightened using layers of lights like ambient, accent, and task lighting, followed by a high CRI index. The color temperature recommended is the brightest, which is between 5000K to 6000K, to enhance the jewelry pieces.
4. Electronics stores
LED lighting would be a great thought to opt for as a ceiling fixture or recessed downlight in an electronic store.
However, the color temperature may fall somewhere between 3500K to 4500K.
Conclusion
A retail store will have many people coming over to buy things and to ensure that they leave happy with a lot of purchasing, it is essential that lighting is focused perfectly.
The techniques, color temperature, fixtures, and lighting matter a lot and need attention to ensure success in light design.
