“The store becomes the stage, and the role of lighting is to highlight this stage in a new and exciting way again and again,” says Benjamin Garufo, General Manager Retail Lighting at ledxon. This requires skill and great expertise.
Mr. Garufo, ledxon has specialized in LED technology for many years. Does your wealth of experience help you with your retail lighting concepts?
Definitely! Our professional expertise in the technical aspects of LED is extensive. More than 30 years ago, my father developed LED products for traffic settings. Modules and components were our first lighting products. This resulted in comprehensive technical background knowledge. Needless to say, this is a huge advantage, especially when it comes to developing new lighting products for the retail segment. Not only do we know exactly what this industry sector needs, but we also understand how it all works – down to the smallest technical detail. This allows us to explicitly respond to current trends and individual customer needs.
What are the biggest challenges in planning retail store lighting in your professional opinion?
You have to be able to understand light to develop an optimal lighting concept. You must consider lighting in the larger context of architectural expression and the interior of a space and adapt the individual light sources to each other. Every store or supermarket has different basic conditions. That’s why it is important to continuously rethink and improve the process. This is where I see the biggest challenge and primary function of planning: namely to design individual lighting solutions even for sophisticated store concepts while incorporating and embracing the wishes and needs of the customer.
Why is the EuroShop trade fair a great presentation platform for you as a lighting expert?
Lighting is a crucial factor for attracting customers and encouraging sales. The trade fair gives us the opportunity to show the retail sector how important a good lighting concept is and what good lighting can do. The assumption is that an active store also has a dynamic sales floor, meaning it constantly adapts its product selection. That’s why a lighting concept has to be as flexible as possible. It is vital to offer customers an experience, to always present something new, to change things up and keep things interesting. The store becomes the stage, and the role of lighting is to highlight this stage in a new and exciting way again and again. At the EuroShop trade fair, we show our retail partners how they can best implement and use lighting for their purposes.
Interview: Natascha Mörs; EuroShop mag
