Lighting technology by Imoon renovates retailing formats

The retail industry is undergoing continuous and constant developments due to new paradigms related to multiple factors, such as digital transformation and sustainability. One of its sectors most involved in this regard is Food & Grocery. Operators are called to face change by taking effective initiatives and actions to revolutionize sales formats, methods of interaction with consumers, and brand profitability.

Energy efficiency, hybridization, and experiential design: These are three cornerstones behind the innovative concepts that are contributing to the industry’s metamorphosis. In this regard, lighting design will be playing an increasingly leading role in the construction of store locations in terms of sustainability and creation of purchasing paths capable of enhancing a brand’s personality and identity. In addition to its functional and perceptive value, the careful study of light is mainly aimed at arousing emotions in customers that can make their consumption experience unique, as an indispensable strategic element for retailers who have undertaken the hybridization process between digital and physical worlds. A store’s layout, fittings, and touch points are within the scope of such process: from Food to Fashion, technology has increasingly been acting as an enabling element, especially as regards lighting components, where environments are shaped by a relational and evocative aesthetic that promotes indoor comfort, thus entailing greater brand loyalty.

In an environment where competition is becoming more and more pressing, Imoon – leading player in the international lighting market for the Food & Fashion retail markets – has interpreted the most recent trends with a different mindset where sustainability, customization, and optimization constitute key elements for the development of unprecedented exclusive concepts to encourage the restyling of existing stores.

Sustainability has taken on an essential role in making a brand memorable and influencing consumer choices thanks to positive and constructive associations that can generate trust. In this sense, Imoon has reduced the environmental impact of stores by combining technologies that include software, sensors, LEDs, and advanced methods to achieve maximum energy saving. Every environment needs its own light: depending on the type of department, Imoon lighting designers have studied scenarios that are differentiated by color rendering to emphasize only specific areas. Compared to traditional lighting where light is uniform, Imoon has modified the contrast, also using optics and parabolas capable of distributing light optimally to make a store’s display counters, shelves, and checkouts more attractive with a lower energy level for irradiance in store premises. In other words, this approach has a significant impact on energy saving, with consumption being reduced to 7 kW/m² thanks to an average optimal illumination level of 1,000 lux compared to 2,000 lux of radiant energy needed to illuminate a store homogeneously and thanks to the use of fixtures that reach system efficiencies of up to 200 lm/W. In addition, Imoon also provides advice on an energy assessment, estimating the total energy consumption of its lighting projects and related payback period, also considering installation costs and costs for disposing of the old system. In one of our projects for a 7,000m² store, for example, the total investment was completely recovered in less than 3 years.

Imoon will personalize your store by using the most advanced technologies to combine aesthetics, functionality, and emotional communication. The development of special projects, such as the creation of a new lighting fixture for a specific format to be replicated within all stores, in addition to promoting greater brand awareness, will provide consumers with the experience conceived during the design phase, thus enhancing their involvement. For Imoon light designers, customization first and foremost involves the use of LEDs capable of ensuring perfectly diffused lighting, which, at the same time, enhances details or elements of the scenography. Secondly, customization consists in adjusting brightness levels according to the type of setting, chromatically enhancing the products’ color contrasts and expertly using color temperature as engagement factors for the consumer. More specifically, the Imoon range comprises XWARM and FULL COLOR LEDs particularly suitable for fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, and wine, while the exclusive MEAT LED, in the RED, RED PLUS, and MEAT FISH HD versions, intensifies the red and white tones of meat and fish, thus enhancing their freshness. The remaining sections of your store may instead be illuminated by using the SPARK & HD LED range, making even non-fresh products more vivid and prominent.

Imoon lighting design has been conceived to enhance products to the utmost, encouraging consumers to make purchases with positive effects in terms of your brand’s increased revenues, which may grow by up to 15% in the sections for fresh products, compared to traditional lighting.

A further crucial element for retailers is to optimize their lighting design by making it scalable in the roll-out phase, thus ensuring maximum flexibility in the management of the stores’ layouts. In this regard, integrating multiple technical and decorative systems within a single electrified track, ranging from lighting fixtures to emergency lights, to acoustic speakers, enables the creation of a functional architecture in all store areas. Imoon also ensures full control over the project by combining LEDs, sensors, and control software to favor the use of natural light, when possible, for maximum energy efficiency.

Source: WebWire/Imoon