Lighting is a crucial element of any high street retailer’s brand identity, both the luminaire itself and the lit effect can fundamentally affect the atmosphere of a retail space.
From large supermarkets through to high-end fashion or hospitality, each retailer will have their own requirements for the environment and customer experience they wish to create, tying in with their brand identity.
Supermarkets typically focus on providing a uniform and high lux level that ensures an inviting atmosphere with all produce lit to similar effect whilst high end clothing retailers tend to opt for a relatively low lux level with high levels of contrast, highlighting certain products and displays to create drama and excitement, whilst drawing customer attention to products the retailer has chosen to prioritise.
Hospitality applications such as restaurants, bars and coffee shops may use warm colour temperatures to create inviting and cosy spaces similar to domestic environments, where pharmaceutical applications might use cool white colour temperatures to create a clean and sterile feel.
Alongside more simple colour temperature changes, a wide range of specialist colours are also employed in food and clothing applications to highlight product to maximum effect. Examples of this include red saturated lighting for meat counters, warm white yellow enhanced sources for bread and cheese, or UV enhanced solutions for clothing retailers to ensure that whites appear bright and vibrant.
These are just a few examples amongst many and different retailers might use a combination of lux levels, contrast and colour temperature to create different visual effects, whilst there may be a desire for the luminaire itself to be an architectural feature or for it to be discreet and unobtrusive to ensure it does not draw attention away from the products on display.
There are as many lighting solutions as there are types of retailers. The key to effective retail lighting is choosing luminaires and creating lighting effects which ties in with the corporate brand and the customer experience you wish to create.
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Member-created content 1 year ago | From members