Store lighting isn’t complicated, so why do so many high street brands get it wrong?

Here’s Lux’s
top tips for getting it right every time.

1. Layer the light

A basic retail lighting design comprises two elements, ambient lighting and accent lighting.
How you mix them is key to your store’s individual look, but always make sure the ambient is
low enough to allow the accent to punch through to the merchandise.

2. Make the lighting match the brand

The lighting design – and the fixtures – should match the brand’s values. As a general rule,
customers associate ambient with low cost and accent with upmarket. Some stores
– TKMaxx, Boots, Lidl – are ambient only, while some – Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister,
SuperDry – are accent only, to great effect.

3. Nail your colour temperature

The colour temperature is key to a store’s look and feel. A cool colour temperature (4000K to 6000K)
conveys spaciousness and appeals to a young demographic while warm colour temperatures (2700K
to 3000K) convey familiarity and appeal to older, upmarket customers.

4. Light what you want customers to see

Sounds obvious, but rarely applied in practice. Theatre lighting designers put the brightest
light wherever they want the audience’s attention.

This ‘hot spot’ trick works in retail, too. So highlight hero items, new merchandise and
special offers. Lighting designers call this ‘the lighting hierarchy’.

5. Don’t take colour rendering at face value

Don’t assume a high CRI number will ensure good colour rendering – it may not include
strong reds, for instance. For good reds (bread, foodstuffs, fashion) find out the light’s R9
value, and make sure it’s over 80. Ninety is best. For good blues (suits, jeans, fish), check the
R12.

6. Work your window

A great window display will turn passersby into shoppers, so this is no place for caution and
restraint. Bright, bold, high contrast lighting can make a hero of the merchandise. Better still,
consider dynamic light that introduces movement and variations in light levels and colour.

7. Change your changing rooms

The changing room is most important space in fashion as it’s where the buying decision is
made.

So why are yours lit with £5 downlights that makes people look awful? Instead, mount warm
vertical linear lights with good colour rendering on either side of the mirror.

8. Integrate the lighting

Research has shown that customers pick up twice as many items from shelving with
integrated lighting, than those with none. These days, with LED tape, integrating is a cinch.

Do use a good brand though – Osram’s came out best in our recent tests.

9. Read the warranty

Manufacturers’ warranties are usually written to protect them just as much as you. Watch
especially for restrictions on burning hours buried in the small print – most retail lighting will
comfortably exceed 5,000 hours annually so a warranty with a 4,000-hour restriction is
worthless.

10. Get a professional in

If the budget permits, hire a professional lighting consultant, even it’s only for a basic lighting
strategy. They’re worth the investment, as with LEDs, lighting has become more of a
minefield than ever and a good designer will bring lots of ideas to the table.

11. Use two colour temperatures for jewellery

In theory, all jewellery should look great under a high CRI source, no matter what the colour
temperature. In practice, stunning results come from a mix. Try using both 3000K and 4000K.
The former is great for gold, the latter for silver and diamonds.

7 mistakes

Lighting is one of those things that can be easily taken for granted. It’s sort of like cell phone
service or drinking water – it’s not something most people pay attention to unless it’s off.

Just like cellular networks and purified drinking water, details matter in lighting. Ensuring a
cell signal isn’t spotty or that the total dissolved soluble content of water is palatable is a
science. And it’s pretty easy to mess up.

With lighting, mistakes rarely go unnoticed. And even the less-noticed ones can have a
trickle-down effect on sales.

The job of the lighting designer is to help you avoid such oversights, ensuring your lighting is
sharp, consistent, and right for your brand.
In that spirit, here are the most common mistakes our team sees in retail lighting design:

1. Failure to accent focal points and features

When retail stores fail to use appropriate lighting to highlight the products they’re trying to
move, its effort to drive sales in a certain direction is incomplete. End caps shouldn’t be
bygone and forgotten in the shadows.

By the same token, highlights on new products shouldn’t be neutralized by overhead lighting.
Too much general lighting in the store is an all-too-common mistake in today’s retail stores
that prevents customers from being drawn to the products you want them to focus on. The
bottom line: everything in a retail store should not be lit the same. End-caps and featured
items are meant to be lit by accent lights.

Keep in mind that simply installing accent fixtures in an open space won’t provide the right
kind of general light needed to keep a store well-lit. You need the right ratio of general light
and well-focused accent light.

2. Poor balance of contrast

Piggybacking off of the above point, some stores fail to use lighting contrast in a way which
draws people to specific areas of its space. Costco is a good example of that. While the even
lighting throughout their stores hasn't necessarily impaired their ability to move an acceptable
volume of product, their lack of contrast limits their ability to strategically direct sales.

On the other hand, stores with dramatic lighting contrast like Abercrombie & Fitch and
Hollister may have too much of a good thing going, with extreme contrast making it hard to
focus on items in the dark or in the spotlight.

3. Failure to consider lighting codes

You may not have the kind of palate which can discern the differences between Evian and
Aquafina water, but there are probably plenty of folks who work for the FDA who can dissect
the mineral composition of the waters, pointing out flaws and imbalances when they find
them. Just the same, there are some retail lighting design mistakes that will go unnoticed by
your customers but will be easily detected by inspectors.

Why does it matter? Failure to consider lighting codes upfront can cost a lot of money down
the road with failed inspections, delays, add-ons, additional installation costs, and other
similar headaches. Lighting codes simply cannot be an afterthought, but carefully considered
throughout the design phase of a project and closely managed during buildout.

4. Failure to consider light color during the design phase

What’s the theme or feel of your store? Is it sleek and clean? Homey and rustic? Lighting
color can make or break that feel. Furthermore, different displays within the same store may
require different lighting color to best jive with the designer’s intent. In a jewelry store, for
example, white gold, silver, platinum, and diamonds should be lit by cooler light while yellow
gold and certain gems should be illuminated with warmer tones.

What is color temperature? Here's how we define it and how we recommend you choose it for
your particular space.

5. Use of old or inefficient technology

Old, inefficient lighting technology will not only tear down the style of your store, but
will well cost you a lot of money in energy, materials, and labor. Consider this: if you opt for
a short-life, old, inefficient light, it will cost less up front, yes, but it will burn out on you
sooner. Then, who knows how long it takes you or one of your employees to nice that the
light is out? It’s more likely that a customer notices it before you do, which makes the store
look bad. And once you’ve found it, your employee will then have to allocate time to
locate the correct replacement and change it out.

The trickle-down can cause real problems, beyond just the high cost of energy, which is
probably the biggest reason to go with newer lighting technology. The technology has
advanced to a point where you can now achieve some of the design intent older lighting
technologies provide without compromising on the financial and operational performance.
6. Failure to maintain existing
lighting

Relamping and cleaning the fixtures you invested in during your buildout is vital to
maintaining a sharp, attractive store. You probably already knew that. But beyond that, it’s
imperative that lamps get changed out promptly and on schedule. Ballasts and power supplies
also need rapid replacement when they begin to fail. Too many businesses struggle to keep up
with this kind of maintenance, diminishing the initial investment they made in their lighting,
which will cost more down the road while dampening visual appeal and efficiency.