Improving the In-Store Customer Experience in a Way You’d Never Expect

Managers and/or owners of retail stores have two important goals: cutting operations costs and providing the best customer experience possible so that they sell more products. But oftentimes they're too busy dealing with day-to-day issues and don't necessarily have the time to consider all of the options for achieving those goals. However, there's one overlooked solution that can save retailers thousands of dollars, reduce their lighting energy usage by more than 50 percent and provide optimal in-store conditions for shoppers: LED lighting.

Lighting is an important part of a store — it influences a shopper's mood, their perception of the quality of the product and has the ability to highlight specific products (or product features) in a flattering way. Many retailers also place an emphasis on creating a welcoming atmosphere for consumers, which requires them to leave their lights on for the majority of the day. The downside is that this leads to costly electric bills. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lighting is responsible for an estimated 42 percent of electricity bills for U.S. retailers.

LED lighting, on the other hand, provides retailers with the opportunity to achieve energy and cost savings while also boosting the customer experience. For example, if a liquor store swapped its traditional lighting products in the retail area, cold storage area and employee back room for LED products, the business could reduce its carbon footprint by 88,000 pounds a year, saving $11,000 annually in energy costs.

Although the price of retrofitting an entire brick-and-mortar location from incandescent bulbs to LEDs is costly up front, it yields a rapid return on investment over time. Some establishments may experience a ROI in less than a year. Furthermore, retailers also lessen their maintenance costs for fixing bulbs as LEDs last for up to 50,000 hours compared to incandescent bulbs’ 1,000 hour average life span.

The other benefit of using LED lighting is that it provides retailers with an opportunity to shape the customer's in-store experience in a way that isn't possible with incandescent lighting.

How Does Lighting Influence Purchasing Behavior?
The harsh light emitted by regular fluorescent and incandescent lighting can negatively affect retailers in a number of ways. It can damage or fade colors of products and it can skew the way product packaging and signage appear to shoppers.

LEDs, on the other hand, are 90 percent efficient compared to conventional bulbs at 10 percent efficiency. LEDs will dramatically improve the brightness of product colors, making detailing and design more visible — and thus more appealing — to consumers.

LEDs also provide an opportunity for retailers to create a "feel" in their stores that matches their brand identity, while also making consumers feel more comfortable and apt to make a purchase.

Most consumers are used to "warm" lighting in their homes as opposed to the severe bright lighting often found in stores. Not only does this affect how a consumer views products, but it also could lead to returns if the merchandise doesn't look the same at home as it did in-store. Retailers can remedy this problem with LEDs. For instance, retrofitting the dressing room of a clothing store with LEDs allows the retailer to design the lighting aesthetics to match how the product will look in a customer's home. The higher-quality light also enhances the customer's mood, creating a more enjoyable shopping experience.

In grocery or convenience stores, retailers can benefit from retrofitting freezer or meat cases with LED lighting. With the use of LEDs, you remove the ultraviolet light produced by traditional fluorescents, which results in the meat looking better and lasting weeks longer. LED lighting also reduces glare, which gives consumers a cleaner, brighter and crisper environment in which to shop.

Start Small, Save Big
Rather than retrofitting an entire brick-and-mortar location, retailers have the option to start with a portion of their store to save on initial costs. Even just a retrofit of display cases (or any lighting used for long hours a day) makes a significant difference. Other areas to consider are lights in lobbies or exit corridors, as these are also operating for most or all of the day. LEDs offer much longer life span than traditional light sources while providing significant savings on electric bills and maintenance costs, even if it's only for a small portion of the store.

The bottom line is that LED lighting might not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering how to improve the customer experience and cut operations costs, but the benefits realized make a LED retrofit (partial or full) a valuable solution to consider.

Ray Sjolseth is the president of Seesmart Technology.