Pilot project “Initiative Plus Cooling”

In times of ever increasing digitization and e-commerce, brick-and-mortar retail has to be creative if it is to continue to attract customers into stores. Here, lively product presentations and digital service are key. Grocery stores pose particular challenges: especially in the fresh and chilled sections, where customers often still experience gray icy cold instead of lively freshness. Dwell times here are short and customers are all too often not motivated to go for impulse buys. That’s why we launched the “Plus Cooling” initiative. We collaborated with Reger Consulting to develop a new lighting concept that would noticeably improve customer well-being in the supermarket and increase the time they spend in front of chiller shelves.

The new lighting concept is called Color Blocking. It involves using colored background lighting for themed shelves and greater variety on the shelf. First of all we enhance the depth effect on the shelf. And then we additionally create new points of orientation in the room. The CBL-RGB-BT batten luminaire was developed specifically for refrigerated shelves.

The test phase in the Edeka supermarket was an ideal proof of concept: After installation of the Color Blocking lighting system, sales of chilled products soared within the space of only two months. In other words, with the new Color Blocking lighting concept, we have favourably convinced customers and created buying impulses. That’s innovative category management!