Sales efficiency is at the centre of the sales strategy of supermarkets. The main topics are offering merchandise, guiding and informing customers as well as point-of-sale advertising.
Supermarkets
Lighting in supermarkets, e.g. for food, construction supplies, furniture etc. mainly follows the following concepts (figure and figure):
Leading customers to the merchandise stations,
displaying merchandise and making it clearly recognisable,
inspiring desire in customers and advertising the merchandise,
information and product detail, and
promoting quick and targeted purchasing decisions.
This is why supermarkets are mostly equipped with purpose-oriented general lighting at 300 lx in the sales area and 500 lx at checkouts or packing tables, which is occasionally brightened up by localised light accents in the merchandise presentation area. This type of lighting accommodates visual tasks of staff and customers alike.
In simple retail space design, direct glare limitation is often overlooked as an indispensable lighting quality criterion besides sufficient illuminance. The maximum admissible value UGR = 22 for retail spaces requires shielding for luminaires. Open-distribution luminaires exceed this value.
From the perspective of staff in the checkout area and at packing tables, glare must be limited to UGR = 19. It is important to consider that this glare rating is also significantly determined by the luminaires in the other areas of the retail space (see also chapter "Glare limitation").