Sale posters and coupons aren’t the only ways to make sales. You can use lights to your advantage, too. LED retail lighting can be used to create an environment that makes shoppers feel welcome and caters to their needs and expectations. Use LED store lighting to draw people in, to keep them focused, to guide them throughout your store, and to save money. There are so many ways that the right lighting can be beneficial to customer satisfaction and sales. Take a look at the following list of do’s and don’ts to achieve store lighting that will help you reach your goals.

There’s more to effective LED retail lighting than meets the eye. Creating an efficient lighting system that looks how you want while promoting products, making customers feel comfortable, and, in turn, increasing sales involves knowing the technical details of potential bulbs and fixtures. These details include efficacy, color-rendering index (CCT), and intensity.

Intensity/Lumens

In the past, the brightness of incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, or high-intensity discharge (HID) lights was measured by wattage. Now, a common method for measuring brightness is lumens. The higher the lumens, the brighter the bulb. Comparable wattage is always listed on our product pages for compatible products. If you’re upgrading from incandescent to LED and want a bulb or fixture that’s similar in brightness, you can use lumens for an estimate of what incandescent wattage would be. Simply remove the last number of the lumen value. The number that’s left represents estimated incandescent wattage. As an example, an LED light that emits 600 lumens is approximately as bright as a 60-watt incandescent bulb.

Efficacy

As a business owner or manager, you’re most likely concerned with getting the biggest bang for your buck. By paying attention to efficacy, you can make sure that you get the most light for the amount of power the bulb or fixture consumes. Efficacy is the amount of visible light that is produced with a certain amount of power (watts). You can determine the efficacy of a product by dividing its lumens by the watts it consumes. For example, a bulb that emits 480 lumens and consumes eight watts of power (480/8) has an efficacy of 60 lumens per watt. A bulb with this efficacy would be a much better option than one that emits 480 lumens at 12 watts.

CCT

CCT indicates the hue and tone of white light emitted from a specific bulb or fixture. CCT is measured in Kelvins (K), which is similar to degrees in Celsius. Different temperatures on the Kelvin scale represent different colors. For example, light at 2000K-3500K looks more orange/yellow and is called ultra warm or warm white, and as temperature increases in Kelvins, color changes to more of a “paper white” known as natural or neutral white (between 3500K and 5100K) and finally into a bluish-white known as cool white (5100K+).

The color temperature you choose will depend on the mood and shopping experience you want to give your customers. A retailer like Hollister for instance, who strives to create a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere, utilizes warm white and even ultra-warm white lights. Add on the cozy furniture setup and music and it’s clear that the goal is to get customers to hang out, relax, and spend more time in their store. Logic says that the more time you spend in a store, the higher the chances are that you’ll buy something.

Bed Bath and Beyond, on the other hand, uses a different approach to make sales. Their stores are filled with bright natural white light to showcase the wide variety of products that they offer. Customers are going to struggle in a store like BBB if it’s dimly lit. Knowing whether or not a shirt looks good is a lot different than buying new pots and pans. Dim light is flattering and more forgiving when customers are trying on clothes, but it won’t help you read whether or not your pans are dishwasher safe or scratch resistant. The lighting you choose should mesh well with the products you’re trying to sell. Using lighting to set the mood is a great idea so long as that mood doesn’t impact a customer’s ability to shop.

One of any retailer’s main goals when choosing lighting is to make sales. Use light to your advantage when trying to highlight certain things or create visual appeal. Make it obvious where new arrivals or sale items are. Use light to create a path that will guide customers through your entire store. Use LED sign modules for your store window or LED light boxes that feature your products. Anything unique, whether it’s cove lighting, lighting under a set of shelves, decorative light fixtures, or simply how you arrange your lights, is more likely to catch someone’s eye.

There are so many retail lighting options to choose from. Take a look at the list below to see some of the possibilities.

LED tube lights for fluorescent light fixtures

LED strips or puck lights for display case and shelf lighting

Retrofit can lights

Sign modules for store windows or creating custom signs

Canopy lights for outdoor overhangs

If your floor plan is constantly changing, it might be best to install a retail lighting system that can be changed as well. Track lights or gimbal and eyeball can lights can all be aimed in different directions. Depending on the products you’ll be displaying, you might also want to order new bulbs of varying intensities or color temperatures for these fixtures.

There are numerous places that are easy to overlook when planning your retail lighting project. Don’t forget the fitting rooms. This is where shoppers ultimately decide if a clothing item will work for them. Natural or warm white light is best, and a high-CRI LED light will show colors most accurately.

Illuminate aisles to guide customers through the store. Shoppers shouldn’t feel like they’re lost in a maze. Give them a sense of direction to know how to get where they want to go.

Don’t make it hard for customers to leave your store. Use LED light bulbs for exit sign backlighting and spotlighting. These lights are especially important during power outages or in emergencies.

If you’re putting your products on shelves, overhang from other shelves can cause shadows or limit light to the area. LED strip lights are a great solution for this. They have adhesive backings for easy installation, and most can be cut to fit the area that needs lighting. If you’re not crazy about the look of a strip under your shelves or if you want to eliminate hot spots (bright points of light), you can create your own LED strip light fixture using an aluminum channel and diffusing lens.

Make sure the checkout and customer service areas can be found easily in your store. Use different lighting or more lighting to make it stand out. Get creative with LED strip light fixtures around the counter, an edge-lit sign, or a custom-printed LED light box.

You might think that your parking lot has nothing to do with sales, but that is incorrect. If your parking lot is dimly lit, your store is not only less visible, but it’s also not as safe as it could be. A poorly lit parking lot can make customers feel uncomfortable and can lead to accidents. It can also be a problem for capturing security footage.  

blog post for more information.

To see more retail lighting options, visit our commercial lighting category, indoor and outdoor LED lights can also be found in our light box, fixtures, landscape categories.

Having a hot tub or spa at home is a wonderful amenity. But before you have the ability to sit back and relax, there can be a lot of headaches. Proper preparation is required before you position the hot tub and plug it in. Here are a few things to keep in mind when planning your hot tub or spa installation.

You probably have an idea of where you would like to place your hot tub. If you are planning to build a place for it outdoors, ensure that you have:

Keep in mind the warranty of your hot tub. Some bases can void the warranty and the material of surrounding walkway, such as gravel, can track more debris into the hot tub.

For an indoor spa, ensure that the room you have chosen is suitable for the conditions. You will require a strong foundation as well as suitable ventilation for the steam and moisture.

Before starting a deck, support structure, or upgrades to a room in your home, check with your municipality that you are able to complete the improvements. You may require permits and there may be codes that your new structure must meet in addition to the manufactures’ warranty. Building illegally can cost you more in the long run.

This is where a certified electrician is important. Most hot tubs require approximately 240 volts. A hot tub does not plug directly into a standard outlet like other appliances; you will be required to add an additional circuit breaker into your main service panel. This can be a complex job and should be done correctly to keep your family and home safe. Improper electrical wiring can cause electrical surges and fires.

video in which Kathleen Packard, their Healthcare Market Development Manager, discusses how some innovations in lighting can positively affect the healing process (and save energy and money). Packard describes hospitals as being historically “institutional and very uncomfortable,” and her mission is to educate the public on the “importance of design” to patient health.

intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell in the human eye, which senses light and regulates the body’s systems, including melatonin levels, which are directly related to sleep. Visa’s Amber Night Light, she says, creates ambient light that won’t disturb the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell. This allows nurses to check on patients without disturbing their sleep.

Of course, all this valuable information leads us to the problems solved by Visa Lighting’s healthcare light fixtures. Packard calls special attention to the benefits of using LED fixtures. She reminds us that LEDs are indeed a great option for hospitals because they are energy efficient and therefore save money, reducing the cost of healthcare; they render color well, which is necessary, so that doctors and nurses can accurately assess skin pallor; and, unlike fluorescent lamps, LEDs contain no mercury.

The go-green movement has increased awareness of depleting natural resources and encourages people to reconsider personal energy usage. Many are considering switching from gasoline-powered transportation to electric cars. This switch would not only ensure the power needed to operate a car, but would also help save the environment and money. One of the primary concerns hindering people from switching to electric cars is the presence (or lack thereof) of charging stations across the nation. Although electric cars are growing in popularity within their niche, it is difficult for owners to feel confident with the availability of energy refill stations as they leave the comfort of their own home. In 2012, the number of publicly available charging stations surpassed 7,000. This number continues to grow as the popularity of electric cars steadily increases. Mr. Electric is here to encourage you that it is possible for you to live comfortably with an electric car! Check out our infographic on the availability of charging stations and their growth across the nation. 

Places such as grocery stores, shopping centers, gas stations and many others are adding EV stations to make them more readily available for electric car drivers. There are dozens of other reasons for you to consider an electric car, some of which include: