by Bruce Baker
look at hundreds of booths each year and evaluate them for their pros and cons. Sometimes I’m asked what the most misunderstood aspect of visual merchandising and display is. Booth lighting takes this dubious distinction hands down. In the booth (or even in many galleries), lighting often misses the mark. Most people fail to realize the importance of effective lighting or they consider it an afterthought of their booth display.
If you design your booth to utilize effective lighting, you’ll see a substantial increase in the customers who enter your booth. This should benefit your sales if your sales skills are intact. People are literally attracted to light like moths and booths that are dark, shadowy or poorly lit don’t attract customers. Lighting, when it’s well executed, is barely noticed and sends positive subliminal messages.
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| Wood sculptor and furniture maker Kerry Vesper’s booth helps illustrate some examples of effective booth lighting techniques. |
Your customers are accustomed to shopping in stores that are bright and well illuminated. The experts say that it requires 1,000 to 1,200 watts of light to properly illuminate a 10-by-10-foot booth. Keep in mind that most show facilities have between 300 to 400 watts of light in the hall, so if you add 600 to 800 watts of additional light, you’ll get the job done.
Proper illumination enables your customers to see your work clearly and read your signage or labels. If the general lighting in a hall is Mercury Vapor lighting (as so many facilities are), it’s even more important that you counteract this nasty light with lighting of the right quality to showcase your work.
The bulbs aren’t the right type. The best light bulbs for merchandising are floodlights or spot lights because they’re specifically designed to aim the light out of the bulb and onto your work. The only difference between a spotlight and floodlight is the angle of the beam spread. Spots have a narrower beam spread and floods are wider. Most use floodlights to get the widest beam spread and to eliminate shadows. If you have only a few pieces in your booth, like upscale one-of-a-kind work, you might consider one pin spot focused on each piece for maximum impact.
Often I see people use reading-lamp bulbs in their lighting fixtures. This is virtually useless as most of the light is trapped in the fixture and doesn’t shine on the work, creating more heat than product illumination.
The lights aren’t the right quality for the merchandise. There’re many different types of bulbs that yield different qualities of light. Some people use compact florescent lights, but the quality is generally poor for merchandising. Floodlights with a tungsten filament will yield light that has a ‘yellowness’ or ‘pinkness’ to it that helps create a warm atmosphere. This can be excellent lighting for merchandise that is vintage or country in nature. Works that are contemporary in nature, gemstones and jewelry, glass, or iridescent objects, can be illuminated excellently with halogen bulbs. Sometimes a combination of bulb types can be just the right blend. Bulbs that give your colors punch and make your work pop are what you’re looking for.
On the horizon is a type of lighting that shows enormous promise — LED lighting. Light Emitting Diode, LED lighting, is a significant investment at this point, but, like all technology, will come down in price as time goes on. LED lighting has minimal energy consumption with low heat and long life.
Lights aren’t in the right location. In general, lights that are properly placed will be over your customers’ heads when they’re looking at your work. It’s common to see lights placed so they’re shining in your customer’s eyes as they look into your booth. Even more common is the situation where people put their lights on the pole in the top front of the booth. This isn’t as effective as having the lights overhead since light doesn’t travel very far. The farther the light travels, the less concentration it has. In addition, when light comes from behind a customer in your booth, it casts shadows on your work.
Another common error that I see with jewelers is that the lights shining on their cases are reflecting in the customers’ eyes. Make sure to place lights over your customer’s heads at an angle so they’re reflecting away from the shopper’s eyes.
Shelves can also be a real barrier to light. For this reason, many exhibitors are using under-shelf lighting that is generally low voltage and readily available. In lieu of under-shelf lighting, try using glass shelves that allow the overhead lighting to penetrate through the display to work on the lower levels.
The fixtures are too low. Sometimes people place their lights so low that tall customers have to duck to come into the booth or duck under light fixtures. To comply with electrical code, the track (for track-lighting) must be eight feet from the floor. The fixtures can hang down lower, but make sure customers don’t have to duck or risk burning their heads on hot lights.
The fixtures are distracting or not in keeping with the merchandise. The style and quality of the fixtures should match your merchandise. If your work is contemporary, your lighting fixtures should be contemporary as well.
Many people use the cheapest and most utilitarian fixtures they can find. The design and the form of your lighting fixtures have a lot to do with the initial impression your booth makes on your customers. If you have to use cheap or unattractive fixtures, have them hidden from view. Light that comes from an unseen source creates a very alluring effect. If you’re clever, you can design your lighting so that it’s completely recessed without a visible source.
I think you’ll find that any money you spend or efforts you put toward improving your lighting will give you immediate results. One business I worked with upgraded their lighting for $350 and immediately their sales improved by 25 percent. If people can’t see it, they won’t buy it! Choose the right lighting for your work and create merchandising magic.
Bruce Baker is a nationally recognized expert on booth design. Visit his Web site at www.bbakerinc.com.