VMSD - May 2011 - (Page 4)

FE FROM THE EDITOR Keeping the Lights On Raising the bar in retail lighting can keep retailers’ registers ringing. 11262 Cornell Park Drive Cincinnati, OH 45242 P: 513.421.2050 | F: 513.421.5144 vmsd@stmediagroup.com | VMSD.com You can look no further than the off-the-chart sales of Apple’s iPad 2 (or really any Apple product, for that matter) to see that people still appreciate great design. In retail, one of the biggest contributors to successful design is lighting. A well-lit store draws you in and directs your eye to the product, not the ceiling and flooring. Good lighting lets you distinguish the navys from the blacks. It means standing inside the fitting room and not struggling to see just how good you really look in that outfit. But get one of those elements wrong and watch the missed sales opportunities walk out your door. Today, when shoppers can buy practically anything via their smartphones, they’re still coming into malls and stores. “Even if they’re going home to buy it online, people still need that store environment to communicate product information,” says Paul Gregory, founder and president of Focus Lighting Inc. (New York). “They need to feel the jeans or see the luster of the diamond.” And that, he adds, is raising the bar on store lighting. “It’s about using lighting to create an emotion,” he says. Retailers are already being pushed to reconsider how they do lighting, thanks in part to rising energy costs, the eventual elimination of the incandescent and changing state regulations. In January, for example, Georgia code changed to allow as little as 1.5 watts of lighting energy per square foot. There are 49 other states with similar updates and tweaks, too, not to mention international lighting guidelines. Take all these changes, plus the need to up the ante on the in-store experience, and what’s a retailer to do? For some, it’s putting the latest technologies to work inside your stores, such as what Cole Haan did with its all-LED store in SoHo (see page 26). Another trend can be found in the overall design approach to lighting. As evidenced on the trade show floors at EuroShop and GlobalShop this year, lighting companies are introducing new products designed to be incorporated into displays to achieve desired light levels and still meet code compliance. (For more on the latest lighting products, see pages 30 and 46-51 in this issue.) “The integration of lighting in everything stood out at this year’s EuroShop,” says Brian Dyches, global retail strategist, designer and educator. “Companies were showing new ways to use lighting.” That’s just the help retailers need to keep the lights on. EDITORIAL Editor Anne DiNardo anne.dinardo@stmediagroup.com Senior Art Director Kimberly Pegram kim.pegram@stmediagroup.com Assistant Editor Whitney Harrod whitney.harrod@stmediagroup.com Editor at Large Steve Kaufman steve.kaufman@stmediagroup.com New York Editor Eric Feigenbaum European Editor John Ryan, London SALES Publisher Eastern U.S. / Eastern Canada Murray Kasmenn murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com P: 770.578.2577 Business Development Manager Western U.S. / Western Canada Donna McKerrow donna.mckerrow@stmediagroup.com P: 770.650.8233 x339 Business Development Manager International Patricia Iannelli patricia.iannelli@stmediagroup.com Via G. Rossini 16, 21100 Varese, Italy P: +39.0332.240285 C O R P O R AT E President Tedd Swormstedt Design Group Director Kristin D. Zeit Audience Development Director Christine Baloga Production Coordinator Keri Harper Senior Event Manager Kristy Lohre Director of Book Division Mark Kissling Reprint Information 800-925-1110, ext. 399 CUSTOMER SERVICE / SUBSCRIPTIONS 800.421.1321 (U.S. and Canada only) P: 513.421.2050 F: 513.421.6110 customer@stmediagroup.com 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. EDT 4 MAY 2011 | vmsd.com http://www.VMSD.com http://www.vmsd.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of VMSD - May 2011

VMSD - May 2011
Contents
From the Editor
VMSD Editorial Advisory Board
The Goods
Nature’s Calling
Guess Again
A Study in Contrasts
Signs of Change
Sharper Image
Showroom
Ad Index
Checking Out

VMSD - May 2011