How proper installation of lighting in a store can significantly increase sales

Trends in recent years, changes in the competitive environment and economic conditions of retail operations have forced retail companies to focus primarily on building a customer experience and comfort on the trading floor. Store concepts are becoming more complex and well-thought-out, retail space is being reduced, and the requirements for the product range are being tightened. This qualitative change is due to the awareness of the importance of the emotional factor in making a purchase decision.

The buyer is not rational. In buying, there is a constant struggle between “ratio” and “emotio”. In the vast majority of cases, “emotio” wins, and we help it relying on understanding of the importance of the emotional background and the mechanisms of building emotions by the human body.

Human behavior is associated with chemical processes that occur in the brain, with the release of hormones or so-called neurotransmitters. Our brain focuses on established patterns. For example, if you ask the question “What color means love to you”, then more than 80% will say red, and some more – pink. And this is logical, because red is one of the most stimulating colors. It is red (it is not for nothing that it is associated with love and is considered a stimulating color) that stimulates those areas of the brain that are responsible for emotional reactions more. Therefore, it is very important to understand how the spectrum of the light source used on the trading floor is distributed. Here it is necessary to mention one more very important fact: the blue spectrum of light blocks the secretion of a very important hormone called melatonin. This is a hormone responsible for a person’s daily cycles – for changing rest and activity. Therefore, when there is a lot of blue spectrum in the store, the visitor’s body does not have the opportunity to relax.

In the photo: Showroom in the office of the NOVA LIGHT Engineering Company

On the other hand, the blue spectrum and the brightness of light actively affect metabolic processes. When the light is intense, the body’s metabolic processes accelerate. Conversely, the less light, the softer it is, the slower the metabolic processes. Taking this fact into account, any retailer should understand: if we want to relax our customers and make them feel at ease, it is necessary to reduce the average level of illumination, implement a spectrum of glow in which there will be a maximum amount of red and a minimum amount of blue. Such lighting parameters are best suited for premium brands, jewelry, and underwear.

Once in a room with soft warm light, our body begins to prepare for bed, reducing the speed of metabolic processes. In this state, a person becomes relaxed, calmer and prone to positive emotional decisions.

Once in a brightly lit room, on the contrary, our body prepares for active work, accelerates metabolic processes, and activates the analytical functions of the brain. In this case, you can expect the buyer to move around the sales floor faster, view more of your product range items, analyze and identify more advantages. And, as a result, they will make more purchase decisions.

When choosing a suitable light scene for a particular store, keep in mind that in any case the product must be brightly lit by a high-quality light source that will allow you to convey its color, texture, finishing details or packaging.

For large sales halls, competent work with visual magnets and their appropriate lighting design is vital. All these factors need to be taken into account when designing a store, but almost no one does this.

There are other features of the human brain that retailers need to pay attention to. These are associations. If a retailer wants to sell something, they must be aware of what their product is associated with. Visual associations force our body to rebuild. Most people consider wood and leather to be something warm, so wooden interior items or leather goods illuminated with cold light will cause subtle discomfort.

Photo – http://www.fifoto.com/blog/dunhill-klcc

It can cause dissonance and discrepancy between the level of illumination and the rhythm of musical accompaniment or aromatic design. For example, low soft light with fast sharp rhythms, or rich sweet aromas with bright cold lighting solutions. There are hundreds of such nuances.

Lighting solutions in the interior, the level of illumination in the store directly affect the mood of a person. In the end, you need the customer to come to the store and feel inspired, so that they like it, they don’t want to leave, but to come back for this feeling. Only in this case can the retailer expect an increase in receipts.

In th photo: Fynch-Hatton store in Lavina Mall

If the store is decorated in cool, pastel shades, you need to increase the light level. If brighter, especially aggressive tones are used, the light level should be reduced. Even the best ideas of designers regarding the organization of store space can work extremely poorly due to small nuances of lighting that few people think about.

The retailer should know at least the basic lighting characteristics, and take them into account when developing the store concept and designing a lighting solution. Harmonious holistic concepts of building a consumer experience are not magic, because inspiration is just knowledge of the processes that occur in the human body. Professional use of this knowledge can ensure sales growth.

Of course, if you have a bad product, nothing will make people buy it. But if a good product is in a good and correct environment, you will get a significant increase in sales – 30-40%.