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MARKET FOCUS BY JOHN FULMER

Know what’s in store

When it comes to retail, energy efficient is what they’re shopping for.

sk those in the electrical industry

A about the retail market and they’ll

tell you it’s mostly about lighting.
Ask what kind of lighting, and
they’ll answer “the energy-efficient kind”
—which should be obvious, since energy
costs are astronomical and lighting eats
up a big chunk of a retailer’s utility bill.
But there are nuances to retail lighting
and a storeowner’s desire to cut energy
costs. For instance, it can’t be lousy light.
Ideally, retailers want light with a high
color rendering index (CRI), a one to 100
value that indicates an artificial light
source’s ability to replicate natural light.
They also want components to last and to
be near zero maintenance. And, as if all
of that weren’t enough, they want a part-
nership between form and function: The
lighting fixtures and design scheme must
be attractive as they are essential in en-
ticing customers into the store and luring
them closer to the merchandise.
“Storeowners look at a lot of energy- While retailers desire lighting that entices customers into stores and lures them closer to
efficient applications, but in retail, it’s merchandise, they are also beginning to appreciate the benefits of energy-efficient lighting.
about what’s the best lighting application
for the customer to display their prod- ment manager for retail and property 75W lamps. “There’s no incentive to the
ucts,” said Ken Hawley, vice president of management at GE Consumer & Indus- store to reduce its individual energy con-
sales at Venture Lighting. trial, explained, many mall stores have sumption,” said Lancaster. “As a result,
leases that require them to pay a prede- we’re seeing malls adding submetering
Property management termined assessment or share of the equipment that allows better manage-
Replacing cheaper, less energy-efficient mall’s total energy consumption based on ment of costs and more equitable billing
fixtures, lamps, ballasts, and controls with their square footage. of individual stores.”
more expensive but energy-squeezing Lancaster has one customer with hun-
retrofits is a big issue. It’s often difficult for dreds of stores across the country. In some Retail construction
a distributor to upsell an end-user when stores the company uses an energy- Retrofits are only part of the retail land-
the price of new-generation fluorescents efficient 50W lamp that allows it to reap the scape, and malls represent the declining
and HIDs seems prohibitive. Sometimes benefits of reduced energy savings. How- side of new store construction. Enclosed
the deck is stacked against a retailer who ever, in malls where stores aren’t individu- malls are losing favor with consumers
wants to be a good environmental stew- ally metered, the retailer continues to use and being replaced by open-air “lifestyle
▲

ard. As Mike Lancaster, sales develop- older, less expensive but less efficient centers” that aim for a smaller footprint

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Continued from page 55
U.S. retail construction put in place
and a cozy, village-square approach, ac-
cording to the McGraw-Hill Construction

$76.7
Outlook 2005. 80

$72.9
$70.4
McGraw-Hill said retail turned the

$67.8

$67.9

$66.6
corner in 2003, with a 10% increase in
70

$63.2
$63.1
construction, followed by a 4% increase

$62.1
$58.9
in 2004. In 2005, the figure dropped to

In current U.S. dollars (billions)

$56.5
1%, but that still means 297 million
60
square feet of new retail space was
added. The report ties retail to new home
starts, which McGraw-Hill expects to 50
drop 5%, and projects new retail con-
struction to also fall 5%, but that still
translates into an additional 283 million 40
square feet.
Reed Construction Data backs up
those growth figures and projected that 30
$70.4 billion would be spent on retail
construction put in place in 2005. Reed
expects put-in-place growth to continue 20
in 2006 with $72.9 billion spent and in
2007 with $76.7 billion spent. Spending in
10
this sector had been growing steadily
until the post-9/11 downturn, when it
slumped to $63.2 billion in 2002 and 0
$62.1 billion in 2003, after hitting $67.9
99
00

01
02
03

20 4
20 *

20 *
*
97

98

05
06

07
0
19
20

20
20
20

20
billion in 2001. In 2004, retail construction
19

19

put in place began moving upward

again, ending with $66.6 billion spent. *2005-2007 are estimates. Source: Reed Construction Data.
“If you look at market segments, retail
spaces are the largest in terms of square
than 50% to 60% of the electric load in the complex, and anywhere in between.
footage, and lighting can represent more
facility on average,” said Nick Bleeker, “We talk about the requirements or
manager of business de- guidelines for general lighting, accent
Electricity use in retail buildings velopment for Day-Brite/ lighting, feature and display lighting, and
Capri/Omega. “With those perimeter lighting. Depending on what
statistics, retailers need to store classification they have, they use
know how important light- several of those elements, all of them, or
ing can be to address just a few,” said Bleeker.
their particular needs.” Arnold Jones, president and CEO of
Lighting: Williams Supply in Roanoke, Va., said
59% Design and owners often need advice, and distributors
implementation have an open opportunity to approach
Bleeker said his lighting retailers and offer services that range from
companies use a tailored hazardous-material disposal to energy
Cooling: approach to customers’ audits on their stores. Lighting design,
14% needs, taking into con- Jones said, is an excellent prospect for
sideration the store’s distributors working with small retailers,
Other: 9% preferred image and its such as jewelry stores and clothiers, who
purpose. Since retail is have the same concerns with product
diverse—covering the display as chain retailers. By working
Space heating: 5% likes of Joe’s Quik-E closely with a fixture or ballast manufac-
Ventilation: 6%
Mart, Tiffany & Co., Tar- turer, Williams can make an attractive
get, AutoZone, and Safe- value-added proposal that offers design
Office equipment: 7% way supermarkets—store services to light or relight a space.
lighting can be simple, “We have a person who is very cap-

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able, who can lay out lighting in any en- ratios, a measurement of lamp efficiency in ratings while still delivering great LPW
vironment. He can produce a CAD-type terms of brightness. Comparing an incan- figures. The flexibility of fluorescents—and
drawing, if the customer wants that,” descent’s LPW with a fluorescent’s is like HIDs—will become increasingly important
Jones said. “It shows the electrician ex- comparing gas mileage between an as jurisdictions become more stringent
actly where to hang the fixtures and Escalade and a Prius. Fluorescents, how- with their energy codes. ■ ■ ■
specifies the fixture to be used and the ever, have had a reputation for greenish,
lamp and ballast combinations to achieve sickly looking light, though recent techno- Fulmer is a principal of Colston & Fulmer
the greatest energy efficiency and logical advances are changing that Editing Services in Joppa, Md. Reach him
highest-quality color rendition.” perception. Fluorescents can now hit 90 at 443-270-8190 or johnsfulmer@com
CRI or better and develop good Kelvin cast.net.
The efficient products
According to Don Gaither, manager of re-
tail sales for Technical Consumer Prod-
ucts (TCP), “Incandescent sales were flat
in 2004, for the first time in many years.
Typically, incandescent growth was be-
tween 2% to 3% per year.”
Gaither believes this is further proof
that retailers are demanding energy-
efficient products, such as dimmable
compact fluorescents. There are battle
lines in the quest for energy efficiency,
with fluorescents and high-intensity dis-

Lighting design is an excellent

prospect for distributors working with
small retailers, such as jewelry stores
and clothiers, who have the same
concerns with product display as
chain retailers.
charge (HID) lamps as the main combat-
ants. Since both camps have seen vast
improvements in technology, this could
be the most important lighting choice
retailers will make.
Hawley said that metal halide is often
considered first as a fine outdoor lamp
along with its HID cousins, sodium and
mercury vapor, and as a high-wattage
commercial application. But innovations
with lower wattages should give a com-
petitive edge to a pulse-start product line
that includes a full-spectrum, 90-plus CRI
lamp that clocks in at 5,000 Kelvin—a
near-perfect reproduction of daylight.
“It’s a very robust light source and will
certainly open up an area or a grouping
of applications that we have not really
been able to get a good market presence
for in the past,” said Hawley.
Everyone knows fluorescent lamps are
energy efficient. As with HID lamps, they
provide excellent lumens-per-watt (LPW)
Circle 132 on Direct Info Card

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