Retail Daylighting Solutions
In the slug-it-out world of retail sales, Daylighting is an easy, cost effective solution to optimise business.

Retail stores who embrace daylighting often find they have a measurable advantage over their competition in several ways. An increase in consumer activity in daylit stores can be attributed to a combination of better visibility; more attractive displays; greater colour differentiation; calm, relaxed atmosphere; stronger loyalty and increased frequency amongst customers; and finally, improved employee morale.¹

Many case studies have been done on the correlation between daylit stores and increased retail sales. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG & E) analysed a retail chain of 108 stores where two-thirds of stores were daylit. All things being equal, the study found the daylit stores had 40% higher sales than the stores without daylighting.²

Wal-Mart found this out themselves when they incorporated daylighting in their Lawrence, Kansas store, where sales rose significantly higher on the side of the store that utilized skylights than for the same products at other nearby Wal-Mart stores. To test this finding, departments in this same store were rearranged, and again, the products located under the skylights had significantly increased sales while the sales of products removed from the daylit areas returned to their national sales average.³


DECREASED MERCHANDISE RETURNS

Colour inconsistency is a considerable problem in retail settings as it can contribute to ‘buyer's remorse;’ which can easily instill a poor brand image and product representation to a customer. As shown in Figure 1 below, product colour can vary drastically between artificial light and daylight. The addition of daylighting to a retail environment helps to present colours in their natural shade and hue, and helps to avoid product displeasure and missed sales opportunities.

1: Houston Business Journal, Sept. 22, 2000
2: Heschong Mahone Group "Skylighting and Retail Sales" report at www.h-m-g.com, 1999
3: Portland Business Journal, July 19, 1999
4: http://www.techexchange.com/thelibrary/colorinc.html