ow people respond to light in a room is a major determinant in their satisfaction with the room, according to research compiled by the Light Right Consortium, a research organization under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Energy. Studies found that satisfaction increases when there is overall brightness of the room surfaces.
It was also found that dark walls or corners of a room form perceptions of gloominess. “The gloom may be psychologically undesirable because it is associated with reduced peripheral vision,” the research noted.
Light is usually associated with warmth and safety, while darkness is associated with cold and danger. What people can’t see creates uneasiness, and stores with too little light can end up warning the customer away.
Here, other experts put some light on the subject of, well, lighting:
“We’re really going to be brightening our stores next year,” says Bill Trocki, vice president of retail operations at Paddock Pools and Spas in Scottsdale, Ariz. “The mood, the ambiance is important.”
Trocki says he has been noticing how retailers in other industries are becoming more creative with their lighting, and soon, Paddock will be making some changes, at least in a few stores.
“We’re getting a lot of ideas,” he says. “Our biggest challenge is to wow the customer when they walk through the door.”
“How products look in a space sells them. If you have a sweater under cold, fluorescent lighting and it’s $39, it’ll probably sell at $39. But if it’s a $500 sweater, it needs light that highlights the weaving and the shape of the sweater," says Allen Rogers, principal of the retail design firm Rogers and Rogers in New York. The key is to add drama and dimensions. [Your products] should not look flat."
Light also affects customers at the sales counters. The area needs to be lit well enough that customers can make the transaction without straining their eyes, but the light also can’t be too harsh and direct. “You want them to feel warm and safe and comfortable with what they’re doing,” says Brian Dyches, principal of the Retail Resource Group in Orange County, Calif.
Brenda Murr, vice president of Mermaid Pool, Spa & Patio in Anderson, Ind., says she is in the planning stages of a new lighting design for the store. Impressed with demonstrations at trade shows by lighting professionals, Murr says she wants to add to the current lighting of her store, which is just rows of lights from the ceiling.
Her goal is to use lighting to make the store more inviting to potential customers. How the light affects the colors of the products, and whether or not it washes out the sales staff are also things she will consider.
“It’s all stuff we don’t think about, but we notice when we walk into different stores if it makes us uncomfortable,” Murr says.
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