How Lighting can Improve the Retail Experience 

Tamlite's Head of Market Intelligence, Colin Lawson, discusses how lighting can greatly enhance the in-person retail experience.

How can a good lighting scheme improve the in-store experience?

Increasing footfall into your store or facility is vital, so it pays to make your premises as attractive as possible. With online retail becoming such a huge competitor to high street and out of town stores, providing a unique customer experience is key.

Lighting for retail is about transforming a space into an experience. The right light can evoke emotions and can trigger the impulse to buy and alter shopping behaviour. Creating an environment that is enjoyable, as well as presenting goods in the best possible style, could be the difference between a sale or customers leaving the store empty handed.

Creating the right retail experience is more than purchasing a light fitting, it requires light perfection. Light can bring out rich colours, make black blacker and white crisper, and highlight fixtures, architectural beauty, and finishes.

What are the key considerations when designing lighting for a retail space?

The key for retailers is to know their audience and understand what colour temperature is most likely to improve the customer experience, as well as enhance the aesthetics of products on display.

Warmer white can be more relaxing and comforting for visitors, whilst cooler temperatures tend to increase alertness, both of which can enhance customer engagement in the right setting. Using a contrasting colour against the backdrop of the general lighting can be effective for highlighting hero products.

How can retailers save energy and money when it comes to store lighting?

It’s not easy to reduce energy usage whilst a retail space is operational - even if there are no customers, it must appear “open for business” should anyone enter the store. Dimmable luminaires are the ideal solution to reduce energy consumption once the store is closed.

In the staff areas, lighting controls and presence detection technology is essential, ensuring light is only used when and where required to reduce the time of use and enhance energy efficiency.

Discussing a successful retail lighting project and what it involved

Tamlite Lighting delivered an installation of high output adjustable LED downlights to Jones Bootmaker in Birmingham. As with all retail stores, Jones Bootmaker needed to showcase their display areas in the most attractive and eye-catching way possible.

In order to put the spotlight on what was a storefront of predominantly black and brown footwear, we recommended a solution that would produce more accurate colours for the displays, highlighting their products in a cleaner, more stylish way: our i5 range of LED luminaires was exactly what they were looking for.

Alongside the change to a more attractive colour temperature and aesthetic, the upgrade to LED improved their energy savings by 66% - a benefit that we are very passionate about and something that is going to be very important as we move further through 2022.