Architects and designers of physical retail spaces are reimagining how to use light as part of the store concept. More than just illumination, innovative audio visual lighting solutions can shape store ambience, create atmosphere and bring new energy to retail stores that will help retailers to capture attention and enhance the experience for customers. Henry Schimdt, creative director at CECOCECO, explains
Despite the predominance of online shopping, consumers still want to visit physical retail stores so that they can see, feel and try what they are buying, or ask questions about it.
But of course they don’t want to just look at or purchase products, customers today also want to enjoy a seamless, efficient, engaging, and even memorable, shopping experience.
Retailers that do this well can increase both customer loyalty and propensity to purchase, making it more likely that customers will shop in the store again as well as recommend the retailer, and their products, to friends.
There are many different ways that retailers can create a memorable and engaging experience that reflects and enhances the retailer brand. Key factors might include: providing a personalised service that creates a sense of safety and comfort; considering how the store layout makes shopping easier; as well as creating in-store ambiance. It is this third factor, creating in store ambiance, that often lacks sufficient focus, or worse, is not even considered.
Evoking comfort and drama in-store
Sensory branding, including creating carefully curated music playlists and thematic video content, goes part of the way to creating a memorable atmosphere that encourages customers to spend more time in the store.
But if everyone is doing these basics, how do you ensure that your store stands out from the rest by making the experience more overtly comforting or even dramatic. Moreover, how you ensure that the overall ambience reflects and/or enhances your brand identity in a way that sets you apart from the convenience of online shopping.
As technology advances, its integration into the retail space is expected to deepen, further blurring the lines between traditional and digital shopping experiences.
Emphasising the delicate balance of light and shade and harnessing their interplay to evoke either comfort and/or drama, light can become more than just illumination. Indeed, it becomes a dynamic tool for shaping store ambiance, creating atmosphere and bringing new energy to retail stores through the convergence of light, technology and craftsmanship
As the application of AV technology enriches the customer experience, providing retailers with valuable insights and efficiencies, so too will retail store designers shift their focus towards exploring innovations in lighting to discover fresh avenues for creative expression.
And why stick to one emotion, retail outlets can become canvasses for an ever-changing stream of immersive visual stories. Store windows can be transformed into dynamic displays that attract attention even when the store is closed. Projected imagery, holograms, and interactive elements can turn window shopping into an engaging experience.
Or perhaps retailers can give the impression of more people being in a store, by reflecting moving images, when the store first opens and feels vacant for those first few customers that step into the void.
The transformative potential offered by new luminous LED wall panel technology is almost limitless when it comes to creating carefully crafted lighting schemes. Inspired by the allure of luminosity and texture, these creative lighting designs can transform retail spaces into unforgettable experiences that attract more footfall.
By reimagining the role of light in retail spaces, architects and designers are unlocking their creativity, moving beyond traditional design boundaries, and ushering in a new era of visual storytelling that can be part of the retailer brand.
