Lighting plays an integral role in creating a welcoming environment or atmosphere, and this is of course true in retail settings. Lighting also has the ability to showcase products to their fullest and ensure customers have a positive experience in a store. By creating an appropriate retail lighting design with a mix of colour temperatures and lighting effects, the environment can influence the consumer's attention and therefore purchasing habits.

Even within smaller retail spaces, creating different areas or zones using a variety of lighting techniques can offer benefits. Not only does it ensure the space doesn’t feel flat or clinical, but it can also be used to guide customers and be advantageous in supporting the variety of functions that retail settings serve.

For example, task lighting is useful at checkouts, where customers need to make payments and potentially pack their items at self-serve locations. If the lighting is too dim here, it could be difficult for customers to see the task at hand, which may be off-putting for future visits.

For functional lighting purposes both back and front of house, a solution such as the DuoLite™ troffer panel or the ReflectCS™ colour switchable downlight from Aurora Lighting’s dedicated retail range are both ideal options.

In addition to using a combination of luminaires, introducing differing colour temperatures is a great way to zone and divide retail spaces. For example, a softer colour temperature may be beneficial at the entrance, so customers aren’t overwhelmed upon entry. Elsewhere, higher colour temperatures and a higher CRI will better showcase the clothes in true colours on both racks and in the changing rooms.

Forward-thinking manufacturers, such as Aurora Lighting, offer a wide choice of colour switchable luminaires. Where uniformity is important in a retail setting, the same light can be fitted in different zones, but with the colour temperature selected on site before installation. The 32W BimPro™CS three-circuit spotlight from Aurora Lighting is a great example of this. Prior to installation, the BimPro™CS can be set at 3000K, 3500K and 4000K. This ensures the same solution can fulfil the needs of zones that need softer and higher colour temperatures.