Xicato trade show booth. Image courtesy of Xicato.
Lighting: Rules of Attraction
Retail is theater, or so the old adage goes, but the adage is more than conventional wisdom, said Joanna Brace of San Jose, Calif.-lighting firm Xicato.
“Lighting has become part of the emotional,theatrical experience that retailers create,” Brace said. Good lighting can boost sales, she contends, and it supports the shopping demands of the world’s more educated, more discerning consumers.
“Retailers want you to see the intricacy of the clothes. They can use lighting to bring out the grain in a pair of jeans or the leather texture in a pair of shoes,” Brace said. Xicato recently introduced its Vibrant Series, a LED module that spotlights merchandise with an enhanced spectrum of white light, according to a Xicato statement.
The right lighting can change a look of a shop, said Calleen Cordero, who runs boutiques for her Calleen Cordero brand of footwear, handbags and accessories in Los Angeles’ Sunset Plaza retail district and Studio City.
“Having the right lighting is crucial. I just recently changed from halogen lights to LED and it’s significantly bumped up the aesthetic of my collection and therefore I feel it has increased my sales. Taking the yellow lights to white lights creates more of a museum quality effect,” Cordero said.
Lighting is more complex than just screwing in a new bulb. For example, lighting can’t be more dramatic than the merchandise being sold, Brace said.It should highlight, not distract from merchandise.
