Lighting the Way to Sales

Energy Efficiency for Brazil's Retail Bookstores

Brazil's retailers are concerned about becoming energy efficient, generating goodwill, and being good corporate citizens while serving their customers.

Bookstores in malls have very particular needs regarding lighting. Successful bookstores depend on moving a large volume of product to stay profitable, and to do that, they must be well-lit.

In this project, NRGmagnet's President Lisa Surprenant provided training on energy efficiency in buildings with a focus on retailers at shopping centers.

On average, a bookstore customer spends only 8 seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds peering at the back cover. That means a retailer has just seconds to interest a potential buyer in purchasing!

In terms of lighting design, shortening a buyer's perception time will increase sales for the bookstore. If the lighting is so bright, dim, or glaring that customers fail to browse (which accounts for 40% of all sales) sales may be lost.

To light a bookstore properly, an architect or designer must often overcome display problems. There can be as much as 75% light drop-off between the uppermost and lowermost shelves. Knowing how to properly use a light meter is crucial.

Studies have found that sales increase as much as 25% when products are displayed in natural light. Yet when introducing natural lighting to bookstores, front windows reduce the wall space that book retailers need. So skylights (or light pipes) can provide reasonable energy efficient alternatives.

The training sessions provided step-by-step solutions for retailers who must keep the "doors open" to generate business but who are concerned with reducing their overhead costs.

Brazil's retailers, architects, and lighting engineers will use this training to compete in an increasingly globalized world. With energy efficiency training, their stores will thrive.

 

NRGmagnet llc is a certified SWaM (small minority- or woman-owned business) with offices in the US and Holland. We provide a full range of energy efficiency, greening, and renewable energy program services. We have a unique set of core capabilities including: Policy and Program Design, Master Planning, Infrastructure Assessment, Analytics; Gender & Disaster Program Support, Capacity-Building and Training, Program Implementation and Evaluation, Green Building Consultation, Standards and Labeling, Codes Support, Water Efficiency, Vulnerability Assessments, Baseline Surveys, Communications and Marketing, Monitoring and Evaluation, and EU Accession Advice.