Invest more in light and less in shelves

Magazine: Trend, nr. 12
Theme: Store lighting

Variable atmosphere and constant temptation on the shop floor: Invest more in light and less in shelves.

Shops have to be trendy and must change with the times, which means that the retailer has to renovate his complete shop interior more often. This costs money, a lot of money, and this while light and light color can summon a completely different atmosphere with one push of a button. To invest more in light and less in shelves can mean lower costs and more turnover in the long run.
‘Lokdozen’(lure boxes) is what René Huizenga calls the illuminated advertisements that bars, theaters, cinemas and of course shops as well use to make their spaces visually more appealing. “If the use of light fits the charisma and standing of the shop, when the total image is right, light works very inviting on consumers. Light can make the difference between walking past and purchasing. I don’t doubt that we will see a variety of sophisticated things to persuade the consumer into purchasing, like scent poles in combination with narrowcasting. When a customer grabs a box of spaghetti of the shelf the smell of cooked pasta will come into your nose while on the screen in front of you a video will start playing how you can prepare it. But before retail is ready light will stay the most sophisticated seducer.”

Adapting to seasonal colors
A simple example of creating atmosphere with the help of light is to change the color of it gradually to warmer or colder. “In a bar the light can turn more red as the evening wears on and so the atmosphere becomes more intimate”, René Huizenga says. “Blue light on the other hand makes the atmosphere more distant. It really works. Research has shown that subjects actually feel colder or warmer, just by the color of the light. The same effect you can get in a store. But the variation in colored light also offers you, as a retailer, the opportunity to adapt the light in your store to fashion colors or season. Is orange the trendy color, than you switch to orange. In this way you can perfectly balance the look of your business and that of your collections.”

Coming in and staying in
But not every installer is so skilled with light. 3Tac, the company based in Oss that Huizinga leads just as enthusiastically as during the start of his manager position in 1992, has made it into one of their specialties.
The 18 employees have learned a lot during their activities for the theater company of Joop van den Ende since 10 years, just like they did from their work in the branches of Holland Casino. If visitors are met with a spectacle of light anywhere, it will be there, and if you can learn how to tempt your customers to come in and stay in with the usage of light anywhere, this is the place for it. Retailers from our industry that have never set one foot in one the theaters will probably have seen at least one of the illuminated advertisement of 3Tac monthly, namely one for the musical ‘Mama Mia’ on the facade of the Beatrix Theater in Utrecht, next to the Beatrix building were the Trade Mart is located.

Durable and low in maintenance
Yet 3Tac is also active for stores. Mostly for chains of stores, but the company can also be hired by independent retailers, as long as this happens in an early stage. Huizenga: “ Seventy or eighty percent of the work is profile work and most installers use standard measurements and materials. We get contacted when they themselves hit a roadblock, and then we have a price tag. A place that is hard to reach but still needs a fixture, pipes that need to be diverted. It is all extra work. You can severely reduce these extra costs when you contact us when the lighting plan is being developed instead of once it has been put down on paper. In practice we turn out to not be too expensive for independent retailers, also because our equipment is very durable and low in maintenance.”

Own glassworks
3Tac can partly offer this level of custom work because it is one of the few companies in the industry that owns their own glassworks. “In combination with our work for theater and television the glassworks offers us a head start in expertise,” says René Huizenga. “We are very knowledgeable and flexible with neon, but also with LED. We know what the market has to offer and what isn’t offered ready-prepared we can make ourselves or adapt. In this way we can make a total scene that is unique. This is especially important for an independent store that has to distinguish itself from retail chains. “ Who wants to sell has to stand out, outside and inside. As the visuals only exists by grace of lighting it makes sense to not only keep presenting furniture, carpets and showcases in mind but also (and preferably just as much) think about the way in which they will have to be illuminated. It will only benefit the durability as well as the presentation.
For more information, visit www.3tac.nl