Lighting is one of the most important tools of interior design. Lighting affects the mood, appearance and function of a space positively or negatively.
Correct lighting is particularly vital when it comes to furniture stores that service to retail customers and where even the smallest details are important due to intense competition.
The right lighting has a huge impact on your customers’ shopping experience. Don’t let an overly lit or dimly lit store lower your sales. Below you can find the roadmap that will help you decide your store’s light needs, how and how much to illuminate.
Furniture stores are usually large spaces by nature. While designing the lighting of these large spaces, the general lighting need of the space should be taken into consider, and the lighting of each furniture group should be specially designed. Customers buy the furniture with their eyes. They examine the products that appeal to them. Good lighting is required for a good first impression to be left to the customer.
How should the correct lighting be in furniture stores?
In order for the furniture to attract the attention of the customers and to be perceived completely and accurately by the customers, it must be illuminated with the right color temperature, the right light intensity, the right angle, the appropriate number, energy-saving and high CRI value.
Choose the right color temperature
If you sell office furniture, use lighting in the display areas similar to office lighting. If you think your lights are too white, then use bulbs with 5000K-5500K light color. This light color creates a feeling of energy and increases working efficiency. Customers who examine the furniture feel more energetic. Complete the decoration by using work desk lamps that match your office furniture. Don’t just light your furniture with ceiling lights. Make sure there are lights from different layer levels. If you cannot bring electrical energy for the work tables you display in your store, then you can use rechargeable table lamps. These table lamps promise freedom by keeping you away from cable clutter for the office furniture. If you want to browse our catalog for wireless table lamps, you can use the link below. https://www.avonni.com/en/downloads/
If you are selling bedroom furniture, then the lights should be relaxing, not energizing. Use 2700K-3000K color temperatures. Customers who examine the furniture can feel the ambiance that the furniture creates in their homes with the relaxing lights. Lighting created by a chandelier suitable for your bedroom sets on the furniture will lead to a holistic approach design feeling. Never ignore the warm and soft lighting provided by bedside lamps. Customers do not only want to see furniture models, but also want to be inspired. If you can’t sell bedroom furniture without bedspreads or pillows, also include lighting products in the set. Offer a holistic design that inspires.
To illuminate the living room sets, choose color temperatures from 3000K to 4000K, depending on furniture styles. The colors in this range are neither very energetic nor preparing for sleep colors.
Complete your living room sets with chandeliers suitable for style.
Include floor-standing lamps, indispensable for the living rooms, into the set.
Appropriate Light Intensity
In order for the furniture to be seen completely and correctly by the customer, the light intensity should neither be too high nor too low. If your store is in a shopping mall or there are sections that cannot benefit from sunlight, then the light level of artificial lighting should be adjusted to the appropriate value. The level of light on the desired surface is measured by lux value. For more detailed information about light level, you can take a look at our Lux lighting level article.
If you sell office furniture, the lights on the table surface should be at 500 lx level. In living room sets or bedroom furniture, the lighting on the product (80 cm above the floor) is appropriate to be at the level of 300-400 lx. Lux meter is not a common tool, but you can measure the light level at your location with your mobile phones by installing “Lux meter” software on your smart phones.
Appropriate angle
Lighting in which all the lights in the furniture store come from ceiling spots lights prevents the appearance of textures. Furnitures reveal their own values with the patterns and carvings they carry on. The lighting used should reveal the beauty of the furniture. You can use directional lighting that gives light at different angles, or you can reveal furniture textures by using lights at different height levels.
For this, by using a chandelier or table lamps on the furniture, you can prevent the lights from only one height levels coming from the ceiling spots.
Appropriate lighting quantity
Furniture stores are large spaces by nature. If the store’s ceiling isn’t too high, don’t consider using a chandelier in the center. Instead of using very strong spotlights that are far from each other, try using lights that are closer together but less powerful. Do not allow excessive contrast. Avoid too bright or too dark areas throughout the store. The pupils of visitors between such sections constantly grow and shrink to accommodate very different light levels. Eye fatigue occurs in your customers and employees who stay in your store for a long time.
Highlight with lighting
Use accent lighting for any product or object you want to highlight in your store. With light, you can attract customers’ eyes to these products. Allow shadows around the product. You can highlight your special products with remarkable lighting. The perfect balance of accent and ambient lighting is key to the shop’s design. Accent lighting can be fun, but if you emphasize everything, you give up your ability to feature products. By using strong contrast sparingly, you can focus on attracting your customers to sales areas, new products, or higher priced items.
Energy-saving
You will need a large number of light sources to light up furniture stores with large places.
No customer wants to enter stores that look dark from the outside. You may encounter very high electricity bills due to the light bulbs lit all day long. Remember, the light level you will get with the electrical energy you use is not always linear. Good bulbs can give off more light while consuming less energy. We call these high efficiency light sources. You should prefer LED bulbs instead of incandescent and fluorescent lamps.
Fluorescent lamps are also energy efficient but have a very low CRI value.
If you still use halogen or incandescent bulbs in your store, you should replace these bulbs with LED ones as soon as possible. These bulbs put you in a difficult position with the excessive heat they generate, as well as high electricity bills. Your air conditioners will work harder than necessary in the summer to evacuate the heat generated by the hundreds of lightings burning in your store.
Color Rendering Index
CRI (Color rendering Index) color rendering index. Color rendering can be defined as the measures the ability of a light source to accurately reproduce the colors of the object it illuminates.
Daylight CRI value is considered 100. The unit of measure of the color rendering index is Ra and this value for “daylight” is 100. The color of the products in the furniture store is extremely important to the customer. In order for the colors of the furniture to be seen correctly, the CRI values of the lights used must also be good. In a furniture store, where the details and colors of the furniture are important, the light bulbs should have a CRI of 80 or above.
For more detailed information about color rendering, you can check our article on What is CRI.
Maintenance
Maintenance and replacement periods of LED bulbs are longer than other lighting. It is appropriate to use higher quality LED bulbs in these areas in order to avoid frequent maintenance in difficult to reach places in your store.
In stores with very high ceilings, it may be necessary to install scaffolding to replace light bulbs in light fixtures or bulbs in a very large gallery chandelier. The cost of replacing the bulb can be much higher than the cost of the bulb. You decide where you should use the economical bulbs.
Glare and reflection
Lighting is as much about the product you are going to illuminate as much as how you use the bulb or fixture. If your goal is to create an inviting atmosphere that will help customers shop effectively, the lights should not be directly in the customers’ face. Lights should be directed to the furniture you are trying to sell or where you are trying to direct customers. Consider the location of any glass or reflective surfaces. The lights should not reach the customer’s eyes at an irritating level, either directly or by reflecting off a surface.
As a result, invest in the right lighting for your store. The right lighting will help you increase sales and repay your investment as soon as possible. Decorative lighting displayed together with the furniture contributes to both the store ambience and the visuality of the furniture. In addition, these are not only used for lighting purposes, but are supportive products that increase sales and can be sold.
