Forrester, Jay

English

Research Papers in Economics

CREATIVE NERCHANllISING-SI!lPLISTIC
BY DESIGN
by:
Jay Forrester
Forrester-Tucker Associates
Stamford, Connecticut
“Creative Merchandising-Simplistic
By Design “ is a concept that takes one
back to the basics of highlighting as
opposed to an endless “sea of lighting”
ilBrighter is better” in supermarkets.
is a connotation from the past when
energy was almost insignificant in cost.
By using a novel store design, namely
segregating the sales area into a perish-
able and non-perishable area, many ini-
tial construction savings as well as
operating cost savings may be achieved.
The ceiling heights of the non-perish-
able area would be 14 foot as opposed to
just using a 10-foot ceiling in the per-
ishable area. Basically we would achieve
this reduction of lighting in this per-
ishable area by having no ceiling 1 ight-
ing because each case has its own light-
ing source.
Let’s take a walk through the sales
area of our segregated store. You will
note that the entrance is in the lower
right hand corner, leads directly into a
bulk merchandise area; through the gro-
cery shelving, through the non-service
bakery shelving leading directly. into
the refrigerated produce area, then the
frozen food area, the service deli/
bakery area, the dairy case’ area, and
finally into the ’meat case area.
Summarizing the layout in this
42,oOO square foot store, we have 1,512
lineal feet of grocery shelving, 48 ‘eet
of snack shelving, 56 feet of bakery
shelving, for a total of 1,616 lineal
feet of shelving. Bulk display has 96
lineal feet. Produce department has 24
lineal feet of air curtain multi-deck
refrigerated case, 72 lineal feet ‘of air
cooled island produce. case, 48 feet of
non-refrigerated produce .di.spla.y case.
In the frozen department we have end
cases which are dual temp cases for 42
lineal feet, 72 lineal feet of single
deck ice cream cases, 36o lineal feet of
single deck frozen food, for a total
frozen case lineal footage of 474. We
have 72 lineal feet of dairy case. The
meat department has 36 lineal feet single
deck, 32 lineal feet single deck with
super structure, 24 lineal feet of single
deck meat as well as 24 lineal feet
smoked meat case. In the deli case, 12
feet of service salad case, 12 feet of
service hot food case.
One of the benefits of this type of
layout is being able to reduce the over-
all lighting load. Yet in reducing the
lighting load and creating a darker ambi-
ent around the refrigerated cases, which
basically :have their own illumination,, .
one can make significant use of light
as merchandising tool. Actually, the
merchandising department can no longer
dictate which equipment should be used
in stores sales areas because the cost
of. energy and labor being so high.
Which equipment to be used is actually’
a tradeoff involving merchandising, labor
and energy costing of figures.
Let us take a look at merchandising
by what I feel is proper use of illumina-
tion. The objectives of good illumination
is 1) to highlight product, 2) achieve
proper color rendition, 3) achieve ade-
quate illumination, 4) reduce glare, 5)
insure proper contrast. Let’s take a
Journal of Food Distribution Research February 81/page 93look at the standard supermarket as it
appears on a typical illumination profile
going from the front of the store to the
rear of the store. Note we have approxi-
mately 180 foot candles on the wall wash,
we then drop the ceiling down to 10 feet
and we have approximately 120 foot can-
dles over the checkout area. We then
have approximately 80-90 foot candles in
the sales area which is at the 14 foot
level . Running back until we come to the
end displays where we have approximately
150 *foot candles. Once again to the wall
wash, which is again 180 foot candles;
dropping down over the meat case where we
have approximately 100-110 foot candles,
dropping off sharply to create a darker
ambient around the meat cases.
Now, let’s look at the lighting from
a left to right basis. Once again, we
have the wall wash which is approximately
180 foot candles; we have our produce
cases which have their own illumination
which is the blue spike, and that is ap-
proximately 180 foot candles also. It
drops down to approximately 80-90 foot
candles across the sales area until we
come to the frozen food cases. Let’s
assumethatwe have multi-deck freezer on
one side and reach-in door freezers on
the other side. We basically need no
ceiling lighting in that aisle because
the illumination capabilities of the fix-
tures themselves is quite adequate, yield-
ing approximately 200 foot candles.
YOU1ll note that the ceiling lighting
which.is the white line dips down to 40-
60 foot candles. You go outside of the
frozen food aisle, it goes up to 80-90
foot candles until we come to our bakery
and dairy case which are opposite each
other when we have no ceiling lighting
and then we have the wall wash once
again. Most important is, don’t over
illuminate. In our total perishable area
we would use no ceiling lighting. Only
the lighting from the wall wash and cases
would be used.
Let’s take a look at illumination
level guides: non-perishable sales area -
less than 100 foot candles; wall wash -
18o foot candles; front end - 120 foot
candles; work areas - 50-80 foot candles;
storage areas - 25 foot candles; park-
ing lot - 1-3 foot candles; and under
the canopy - 50 foot candles. Items that
affect light in the supermarket are: 1)
ceiling height, 2) store decor, 3) aisle
widths, 4) gondola heights, 5) the lumi-
naire or lighting type that is used.
Sales area colors ideal for the best
illumination are a white ceiling, a light
colored field tile on the floor and flat
soft colors on the walls.
Now in our desire to create a proper
illumination for merchandising, we have
to emphasize 1) the front end, 2) the
perimeter, 3) cases and displays, and
last of all 4) the general sales area;
The front end should have approximately
120 foot candles; this is to allow the
checkout girls to see adequately the
pricing on the product and to handle the
money efficiently. We do not recommend
such items as the sea of illuminated
celling as an effective means of illumi-
nating the front end. We have here a
bulk display at the front end which is
basically illuminated by the light coming
in from the windows as well as two fluores-
cent fixtures which are specially designed
for supermarkets to direct most of the
light downward.
Wall wash is something we have to
emphasize because the psychology of
lighting indicates thatif you have a
bright pleasing wall, the overall illumi-
nation or indication of lighting levels
in the store is much greater. tn other
words, you can cover a lot of other sins ‘
in supermarket lighting by having an
effective wall wash. We do that simply
by having a single tube fluorescent with
a shield and 1 think you can see that
the effectiveness of that wall wash is
very great at minimal cost.
You’ll think back to the typical
illumination profile that we looked at
earlier, when we said that basically
February 81/page 91+ Journal of Food Distribution Researchwhen you have multi-deck equipment or
self-illuminated equipment opposite each
other, you really don’t need any ceiling
lighting. Now this coal miner’s hat on
a customer is not the overall effect that
we want to achieve. What we want to ac-
hieve is having a darker ambient with no
ceiling lighting and therefore allowing
the case lighting to do all the emphasis
of the product as opposed to multi-deck
freezer cases which are in a “sea of
lighting “ in which the product gets lost.
Here we have a picture of an illuminated
ceiiing with over 400 foot candles being
shot down onto the product. This not
only destroys any illumination merchan-
disi’~g value, but it also tends to heat
the top layer of product thereby driving
up the refrigeration load and tends to
sacrifice produce integrity. It should
be clarified that the lighting over the
single deck frozen case could either be
ceiling mounted special fixtures which
shine most of the light downward or else
the cases couid come equipped with a
light under an extended top shelf. The
most effective way to do this would be
for the lighting to come as direct part
of the equipment. Herels a picture of
the dairy cases; note there is no ceiling
licjhting in the aisle. There is, however,
a nice pleasing wall wash. Note how the
product stands out as opposed to this
picture where the dairy cases are inclu-
ded in a “sea of lighting.” The reach-in
cases offer poor illumination at best and
when bulbs burn out, such as this picture,
the overall merchandising effect is bas-
ically lost. Basically, what we are say-
ing is that the use of task lighting in
the perishable area would minimize the
number of fixtures required and also
render those areas that you wish to high-
light very effective.
Store lighting has an important in-
fluence on the refrigerated equipment as
is shown by this slide. Note that incan-
descent bulbs offer the highest increase
in meat case temperature of all the light
sources, with the heat rejecting incandes-
cent bulbs just slightly less as far as
heat added to the product. Note that
fluorescent lamps are the most effective
as far as not increasing the heat in
meat cases. Let’s take-a look at the
incandescent bulb. The incandescent
bulb transmits only 10% of its energy
into light forms; 72% of it goes into
infra-red and 18% goes into conduction
and convection. This is the most inef-
ficient light source. Looking at meat
cases, there is over 250 to 300 foot
candles on this case, rendering the
chicken sitting in a pool of blood. This
is due ~rimarily to the use of incandes-
cent spotlights used over the meat case.
Here we have a combination of fluores-
cent and incandescants. Fluorescent
iights are 4“to 6 times as efficient as
incandescent lights so what we basically
want to do is have fluorescent lights
over the meat cases such as shown by
this sketch. However, since the eye is
drawn towards the light source, we want
to create a fixture which will direct
most of the light downward and therefore
be ahidden light source such as shown
in this picture. Note the wall wash; note
the fluorescent fixtures that are basical-
ly hidden from the eye directing the
light downward. Also, here is a produce
case with similar type lighting.
The color spectrum given out by the
fluorescent tube is an important feature
in merchandising. in other words, what
is the dominant color of a specific “color
tube. For instance, there’s cool white
which is heavy in the greens, oranges
and vellows. There’s cool white deluxe
which is not as heavy in the greens,
oranges and yeliows but is slightly
heavier in the reds. There’s warm white
which is heavier in the greens and yellows
than the cool white and there’s the warm
white deluxe which is heavier in the reds
than the cool white deluxe. All of which
when compared to the incandescent-spectrum
is heavier in the oranges and reds than
in the yellows and greens. One would
want to use warm white in the produce
cases, dairy cases, and bakery racks, warm
white deluxe over the meat cases, cool
Journal of Food Distribution Research February 81/page 95.,:.
Exhibit A: Equipment placement for ‘Supermarket of the 80s’
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February 81/page 96 Journal of Food Distribution Research
.white over the frozen food cases, etc.
In other words, to try and enhance the
coloration of the product as opposed to
forcibly changing it. Warm white deluxe
is the closest spectrum to the incandes-
cent spectrum which is desireable over
the fresh meat cases.
Let’s take a look at specialty cases
such as deli. Typical deli cases have
been engulfed in a “sea of lighting” and
therefore yield a heavily reflective sur-
face on the windows, which basically hides
the product. We recommend that the deli
be placed in a dark area so that minimal
Iigfit above and beyond the case light
wou~J be required such as this case or
this case. Note how the product in the
cases stands out. The name of the game
is that we are trying to merchandise and
sell produce and therefore it is the pro-
duct that we would like to have seen, not
the lighting fixtures, ceilings, floors,
etc.
Taking a look at general sales area
lighiing, we think that the best tradeoff
right now is the 2-tube 8 foot fixture
which is basically a wide pan fixture,
10~ inches wide as opposed to the stand-
ard 4+ inch typical fixture. The object
is to get as much reflectivity out of the
bulb off the pans surface of the fixture
as is possible. Herels a picture of a
supermarket before a remodel that had 4-
tube fixtures and the same supermarket
after the remodel with 2-tube fixtures;
in fact, the lighting level went up in
the 2-tube fixture primarily because of
the additional reflectivity and the new-
ness of the bulbs.
Here’s an approach to lighting that
is rather unique. It basically has a
high pressure sodium and metal arc bulb
that reflects the light off the ceiling
from the top of the gondola. Additional
lighting would be needed for highlighting;
however, this has yielded a fairly effec-
tive light source in the past.
In summary, lighting is the
effective merchandising tool ava
to the supermarket operator. It
tually an asset as opposed to be
lighting, providing it is used e
tively and judiciously.
most
Iable
s ac-
ng just
fec-
Journal of Food Distribution Research February 81/page 97

CREATIVE MERCHANDISING - SIMPLISTIC BY DESIGN

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