How Up-To-Date LED Lighting Can Boost Sales For Retail Stores
For retail locations, it’s essential to get the lighting right. Lighting impacts the aesthetics of your locations, the visibility of your products, and ultimately your sales. A properly lit store can attract customers, and the best type of lights can enhance the appeal of what you're selling and entice customers to make a purchase.
Academic studies have shown over the years that brighter lighting can foster curiosity amond customers in the store environment, which leads them to explore more and try new products. Strategic lighting can also make products look better, improving their perception and increasing the likelihood of a sale. For retail store owners of all kinds, neglecting your lighting means you are leaving money on the table.
LED lighting is the best bet for retail stores looking to refresh their facilities with bright, welcoming light and boost their bottom line. But not all LEDs are created equal. Even if you already have LEDs in your stores, it’s not a guarantee that you are getting the best benefits lighting can provide. If your LEDs are outdated, your store may not be as conducive to shopping, and you may be missing out on additional revenue opportunities.
Here is why having the most up-to-date LEDs is essential for retail stores.
LEDs last a long time...but not forever.
One of the great benefits of LEDs is that they have a significantly longer lifespan than traditional lights, which saves time and money as they do not need to be replaced as often. However, it can be easy to forget that they do require replacement from time to time, and it is sometimes hard to say exactly when a replacement should occur.
LEDs typically degrade to 70% of their original brightness over about 50,000 hours (or roughly 10 years). So those lights you installed in 2015 that are still technically working? They are most likely not providing the benefits they once did and should therefore be updated.
It may be difficult to notice this degradation, as we are used to traditional incandescent bulbs that flick off once they reach the end of their life. LEDs, on the other hand, slowly dim over time, so you may not clock how dark they’ve become.
Updating your store with newer, brighter lights presents a simple but valuable opportunity for sales uplift.
The wrong lights can make your products look...wrong.
CRI (Color Rendering Index) measures the ability of a light source to reveal the true colors of various objects. This is crucial in retail, especially with food, clothing, art, jewelry, and more. The color of an object is often a reflection of its quality or can impact how well it fits with a customer’s preference.
LED bulbs come in a variety of CRI ratings. The higher the rating, the better a light is at showing the colors of an object faithfully. Of course, it is often the case that higher CRI LED lights are more expensive, so some shops may compromise on CRI to save the initial investment of upgrading their lights. But if the CRI of your bulbs is too low, it may negatively impact the look and perception of your products—leading to lower sales.
Updating your existing lights—whether LED or more traditional bulbs—to LEDs with CRI of 80 or higher will ensure your wares are seen at their best and can give customers a better perspective that will encourage them to buy.
Maximize boosted revenue by lowering energy costs.
Enhanced lighting can boost sales, but boosted sales won’t make as much an impact on your bottom line if energy costs skyrocket. In recent years, energy costs have been climbing faster than the rate of inflation, and experts predict they will continue to grow. This is straining business owners, as the cost of doing business is increasing and cutting into profits.
Luckily, one of the best aspects of LED lighting is that it is energy efficient, meaning it requires a lot less energy to create an even brighter atmosphere.
But for retail businesses looking to save money, investing in new lights may not be a priority, or there may be capital constraints. Even though new lights can boost sales and lower operating costs, many businesses simply cannot afford the time and money needed to upgrade.
Luckily, there’s one way retailers can access all the benefits of fresh LED lighting without having to front any money: Budderfly. Budderfly provides businesses across the U.S. with upgrades to their locations that improve efficiency and lower energy consumption—with no upfront costs.
We purchase, install, and manage a suite of cutting-edge solutions that drive down energy costs: including new LED lighting, high-efficiency HVAC, equipment monitoring software, and more. With no investment needed, businesses can preserve their capital while driving down energy spending. For retail businesses, this is hugely advantageous and makes the benefits of LED lighting more accessible.
To learn more about how we can help put your locations in their best light, contact one of our retail energy experts today.