Many retailers opt for expensive remodel projects, overlooking the simple and proven center store shelves. Here’s how you can avoid their mistakes, make your capital expenditures work hard, and achieve a high ROI.
The Overlooked Center Store
Grocery stores are ecosystems, not just aisles. Many retailers make a critical error when remodeling: they focus solely on fresh departments while neglecting the center store. This oversight can be costly. The center store remains the backbone of profitability, and overlooking it can undermine a store’s long-term success.
The Cost of Neglect
Because the center store is just aisle after aisle of packaged products, rather than pretty cakes in the bakery or vibrant fruit in produce, it can be challenging to get creative (or excited) about its presentation. But its impact is clear.
According to CSP Daily News, the center store accounts for nearly two-thirds of consumer packaged goods dollars and 70% of unit sales. And reports over 80% of all shopping baskets contain at least one center-store item. So don’t neglect your base business (the center store) by focusing all remodel resources on the perimeter.
Stabilizing Profits with Strategic Lighting
The importance of the center store is undeniable — from cereal to condiments — but many retailers fail to recognize how they can delight their shoppers and grow the basket size.
Enter: shelf edge and display lighting. It can make or break your store’s success.
Poorly lit aisles, or an overdependence on overhead lighting, create an uninviting atmosphere, reducing shopper engagement, reducing dwell time and decreasing sales. The shadowed, unappealing environment causes shoppers to avoid key aisles and skip over products, resulting in missed sales opportunities.
Lighting is more than illumination — it’s a strategic approach to shopper engagement. Proper lighting solutions can enhance visibility, improve product presentation, influence shopper perception, and elevate shopper experiences. Shelf-edge lighting techniques, such as accent lighting for promotions and key department illumination, help guide customers’ eyes to high-margin products.
LED lighting solutions are a perfect fit for modern retailers seeking high return on investment strategies. They’re energy-efficient, long-lasting, and versatile. By implementing dynamic shelf-edge lighting designs, retailers can transform aisles from drab to inviting.
Lighting for Impact’s case studies show that shelf-edge lighting can increase dollar sales by 7% and shows a five-year ROI of 18.5%.
Ron Lutz, EVP and CCO of Miller Zell says, “Lighting should be a top priority in store design to enhance the retail environment and highlight products. Because lighting can single-handedly influence the mood of the shopping environment, retailers must understand how they can use lighting to shape their customer experience.”
Too often, retailers prioritize fresh departments while underestimating the importance of the center store. Over reliance on overhead lighting sabotages store appeal, reduces trips and minutes spent shopping in the store. Instead, retailers should integrate display lighting assessments into all remodel projects, focusing on cost-effectively enhancing the shopper experience.
Partnering with lighting experts who understand retail dynamics is crucial. These professionals can tailor solutions to highlight key areas, reinforce brand identity, increase sales, and reduce energy costs.
The Profit Zone: Cost-Effective Remodeling to Protect & Grow Your Center Store
The center store has untapped potential to grow basket size — ignore it, and your bottom line will suffer. Lighting is not just an expense but a long-term investment in customer satisfaction and store profitability. By prioritizing the center store, retailers can secure lasting success and thrive in a competitive market.
Modernizing lighting isn’t just an upgrade, it’s a survival strategy. Retailers who understand this will continue to drive profits and customer loyalty, even as the market evolves. The question is no longer whether lighting matters — it’s how soon you can make the change.
Reach out if you want to take the next step toward better product illumination.
