Let's shed some light on a merchandising technique not mentioned recently.
In the same way that natural light makes our faces look better, so it goes with our fresh fruits and vegetables too. I was reminded of this fact when I came across a press release from DayStar Systems. This reminder could help you too.
Good lighting has always been the friend of grocery and convenience retailers, and scientific research shows that natural light — sunlight — may be their very best friend since produce looks its best in it.
Daylighting and Productivity, a seminal study by the environmental consulting firm Heschong Mahone Group, found that retail spaces lit with daylight had increased sales by more than 40% over similar spaces selling comparable products, according to the release.
Walmart further confirmed this approach when it built its first energy-efficient model store in Kansas way back in 1993. The store was constructed with skylights on one half of the store. Tom Scay, the company's vice president for real estate at the time, told the Wall Street Journal in 1995 that the products illuminated by the skylights sold much better than those under fluorescent lights, according to the release. To rule out other factors that might explain the higher sales volume, Walmart swapped the products. When they were lit by the skylights, their sales numbers went up significantly and the previously well-selling products' numbers dropped.
A natural daylighting system shines bright in helping to increase sales, improve customer satisfaction and decrease overhead. Photo: Courtesy of DayStar Systems
Millennials
Natural lighting, or “daylighting” with skylights, is also a win-win generationally. Grocers and convenience stores can stand out in a crowd targeting millennial shoppers with their sensitivity to energy usage and climate change. Older customers are accommodated as well. Studies by the Illuminating Engineering Society have shown that after 55, people can need 2.3 times more light and higher quality light than 25-year-olds. The high cost of artificially providing the full spectrum light needed by older folks is eliminated by intelligently placed skylights.
Foot traffic
Retailers also see increased foot traffic from daylighting, a finding confirmed by a study done at the Eneref Institute, according to the release. Customers interviewed for the study said that the stores felt more inviting. And having the checkout counters lit with daylight made those customers feel more at ease. Staff felt more approachable under skylights and, overall, the shopping experience was more pleasant. Customers are more likely to spend more time in sunlit retail spaces.
Even grocery and convenience store staff working in sunlit environments are happier, more productive and are absent less often than those working for long hours under artificial lights.
Harnessing renewable and free natural light not only cuts the cost of generating artificial lighting but reduces collateral expenses as well. Photo: Courtesy of DayStar Systems
Color perception
Artificial light is also a problem for perceiving color accurately — crucial for selling produce. In grocery stores, not only are the colors of fruits, vegetables and packaging more attractive under natural lighting, but so are the displays, as well as the store's interior with warm, natural lighting that suggests better quality.
For grocers especially, daylighting is crucial because it provides the best color perception available. Sales go up because the product looks better and is seen more accurately. Customers' color perceptions are directly affected by the full light spectrum. In fact, the only way to see “true” color is in full-spectrum light.
BB's Grocery
That is why BB's Grocery in Newburg, Pa., decided that letting the sunshine in was just good business. The grocer purchased a daylighting system from DayStar Systems, based in Campbell Hill, Ill.
DayStar engineers developed high-performance skylight systems that capture the sun's natural light and collect, amplify and diffuse a broad, even pattern of indoor illumination.
This is accomplished using a four-part system.
- Sunlight is gathered and diffused through an ultra-clear outer dome and inner collimation lens.The dome is supported by insulated roof curbs of galvalume steel or aluminum continuously welded for watertight seams.
- Then a light shaft made of insulated panels with highly reflective interior surfaces amplify light as it is captured.
- And finally, an attractive ceiling lens, engineered to diffuse highly concentrated light into a broad lighting pattern, is installed on the interior ceiling.
- Each component can be customized for the building's specifications. The grocer's staff installed the Natural Daylighting System, which was 65 4-by-4 units.
Saving energy
“We really enjoy working in the brighter building. Plus, we have experienced an energy savings by reducing our cooling costs because we no longer have the heat from the lamps,” Emanuel Kaufman of BB's Grocery said in the release.
Harnessing renewable and free natural light not only cuts the cost of generating artificial lighting but reduces collateral expenses as well. Some artificial light creates greater heat loads, which must be offset by a building's cooling system. With a good thermal designed daylighting system, energy costs can be reduced.