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Introduction

This guide reviews typical current practice in retail lighting, and gives advice on how to achieve effective and energy-efficient solutions, providing retailers, architects and designers with practical guidelines both on refurbishing existing lighting systems and on developing new lighting solutions for their stores.

A checklist is included in the Appendix at the end of the guide to provide quick guidance when carrying out refurbishment of existing lighting schemes, particularly when the existing installation is more than 10–15 years old.

Lighting is critically important in retail environments. Light attracts customers, creates atmosphere, and defines image. Good lighting makes a store inviting from the outside and creates the right atmosphere for the selling process, showing the products at their best and stimulating impulse buying. It also improves the way the space is used and the time that people spend in the store, and provides good working conditions for the staff.

However, the retail sector consumes more lighting energy than any other commercial sector. Based on data published by DECC[1] in July 2012, in 2011 retail lighting consumed 35% of the energy consumption for lighting in the entire service sector, and 43% of the electricity used in the retail sector.

Although lighting products are becoming more efficient, longer opening hours and higher light levels have increased the energy used for retail lighting. Also, inappropriate control strategies and improper choice of light sources result in energy being wasted.

There is substantial potential for energy saving and carbon reduction. Reducing the energy consumed by retail lighting can directly increase profitability and reduce environmental impacts. Modern lighting techniques and equipment, and more efficient light sources, provide opportunities for significant reductions in the use of energy, while achieving a greatly enhanced level of illumination and improved visual appeal[2]. Cutting wasted energy for lighting can reduce overheating in a store, and therefore cut the high cost of air conditioning.

Quality should not be neglected when implementing measures to increase lighting efficiency, and therefore attention should always be given both to the effectiveness and the quantity and quality of lighting in retail spaces. For best results in specific retail spaces, a lighting professional should be consulted, ideally in the early stages of project development.