1. The Shelby Report
theshelbyreport.com
MARCH 2016
More Coverage @theshelbyreport.com
Store
Design
Cutting-edge design 37
Apples to Apples
by Lee Rhoades/COO, BÄRO North America
When I have friends and family coming over for a holiday gathering, my go-to meal is steaks on the
grill. A lemon pepper and soy sauce marinade, a sprinkle of salt on one side, cooked to medium rare, then
finished with a tablespoon of butter dolloped on top to melt in during that final minute of sizzle results
in a perfect steak. And since I want guests to leave saying that’s the best steak they ever had, I make sure
to select the best beef I can find. Of course, I don’t buy those steaks, or the produce, for such occasions
unseen. Nor do I send someone else to pick them up, but critically inspect each slab of beef myself to make
sure I get the best quality and the best deal. For a large gathering, that total might be an investment of $200
or more.
When I go out to buy a new truck, while I might do an extensive amount of research beforehand to gauge
my options, I will visit different dealers and always test-drive the top two or three choices to make sure I
am getting the best quality and the best deal for years to come. After all, a new truck can be an investment
of $35,000 or more.
Both practices seem like plain old common sense, considering the money involved. However, these days
supermarkets are too often making investments of $35,000, $100,000 or even $250,000 without applying
the same simple principle of seeing for yourself and being sure of what you are buying. I am talking about
the purchasing of light fixtures, or more accurately, lighting systems.
As COO of a lighting manufacturer that specifically serves supermarkets in North America, unfortu-
nately I see a trend away from what would seem to be an obvious but crucial process. I believe that in more
and more cases, supermarket operators, in the face of an ever-changing and expanding LED world, are
relying too heavily on ambiguous numbers and third-party “advice.” I know many of you are saying, “Well,
of course, we look ourselves.”
But month in and month out, we receive calls from people inquiring about our light fixtures who then
turn down actual sample fixtures to test. Instead, they just want to run our illumination data files through
their virtual reality software system, believing that will tell them all they need to know.
Paramount to any truly informed lighting decision is the old-fashioned side by side, apples to apples,
in-store test. Only after such a test will all the numbers and metrics have true meaning. With as much
information that is seemingly packed into today’s spec sheets or IES files, they still can’t accurately demon-
strate the true performance of a light fixture. The lighting industry is creating more and more tests to
quantify light quality and performance, but if there’s any market where the subjective human eye is still
absolutely vital, it is the supermarket.
Two fixtures that seem comparable on a pdf can be vastly different animals when installed over a display
of Fuji apples or salmon filets. Or a fixture can appear to be superior when studying the numbers, such as
CRI (color rendering index), but fall short when it comes to making tomatoes or roses appear fresh and
inviting. The belief that the higher the CRI, the better the product presentation is simply incorrect.
Recently, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), the objective source for all lighting information,
issued a statement raising grave concerns about CRI as a metric for determining light quality, stating that
CRI “has shortcomings that limit its ability to fully represent how humans perceive color.” And the IES goes
so far as to state until a new, truer system of measurement is developed, “it is the position of the IES that
CRI requirements should not be a metric used in energy regulations to characterize attributes for solid
state lighting (LED) until there is industry consensus in the issue.”
In short, until that consensus is obtained, trust your own eyes, not a number. And I recommend
taking it a step further and inviting your shoppers’ opinions on the tests. Ask them “Light A”
or “Light B” as they browse your store. After all, it is their perception of your store and
where they choose to spend their dollars that drive the entire process.
Study after study, including several performed by the National Grocers
Association, details the fact that the vast majority of shoppers will pick a market
to patronize based on the appearance of the produce and the produce depart-
ment as a whole. Produce is the spot where that first impression is made, and the
opportunity to impress should not be wasted.
This is why the right lighting for produce is more critical, and a better invest-
ment, than anywhere else in the store. That is also why, if any in-store lighting
trials are done, the produce department should be first on the list. If a lighting
product is of a quality high enough to draw approval from shoppers for how fresh
it makes the peppers and bok choy look, it will certainly do the same for peonies,
pumpernickel and prime rib.
Obviously, the small premium for higher color quality you may pay for lighting fresh
foods might not be necessary in HBC or dry goods since the color palette there is completely
different. Those displays are typically more vertical than the produce islands and bakery tables on
the market side, dictating a different method to provide adequate light on the product, but at a possibly
lower cost.
Understanding that there is a decided value in using different types of light fixtures in different areas
of the store is a large step forward in avoiding one common mistake made when purchasing lighting: the
fixation on unit cost. Unit cost can be a very shaky foundation when it comes to determining the overall
cost of a lighting package both in upfront costs and lifetime operational costs.
For instance, an LED track fixture (A) might seem a bargain at $210 per unit when compared to a
competitor’s LED track fixture (B) at $310. The spec sheets are very likely to show similar stats in lumens
and CRI so, on paper, it would appear one is just more expensive than the other. However, that in-store trial
might concretely demonstrate that you need twice as many (A)s to properly light, for instance, a 24’ run of
produce display than (B). If eight (A)s are needed to equal four (B)s, that bargain would then come at a cost
of $440 for that display, not including the extra labor cost. Multiply that misstep across the entire store
and throw in labor costs, and just the upfront install cost for choosing the wrong fixture can be significant.
Thismathshouldalsobeappliedtocalculatingenergycostsandlifetimeoperationalcosts.Evenif(A)has
a somewhat lower
wattage draw
than (B), it will
still create a much
higher electrical
bill than (B) month
in and month
out for years to
come, further
compounding the
loss created by
selecting a fixture
without taking the
proper time and
effort to perform
adequate testing.
One simple way to avoid such errors is a shift from a unit cost perspective to a system cost perspective
that is based on an entire department. Instead of how much does this fixture cost, the question should be
how much will it cost to effectively light the entire produce department, bakery department, etc., using
this fixture over at least five years. Again, making sure that comparable light quality and intensity are being
achieved, this new question will result in an answer that truly details the best lighting choice for your
market and your profit margin.
Behind all this, and possibly the trickiest task of all to foresee, is how long will a lighting fixture, or
system, last. How long will your LED purchase be operational and without maintenance cost? This is the
last factor in determining what that initial investment will net your company.
To my chagrin, I continually see LED manufacturers and their marketing teams throw out terms of
“will last until after you retire” and “LEDs produce no heat.” Such statements are misleading or simply not
true. Possibly the most certain fact that has been established is that LEDs have a finite life almost solely
determined by how the heat created by the LEDs is managed. Certainly, they have a longer life than most
fluorescents and virtually all HIDs, but unless you anticipate winning the lottery soon or are already count-
ing the days until you drive into work that one last time, LED lifetime has to be a consideration.
Measuring LED lifetime—not only how long will it be on but also how long one can expect an acceptable
amount of light and color quality—continues to evolve and will do so for years to come. L70, LM79 or 80,
ISTMT, Tc and TM21 are some of the tests that have been developed to help us understand LED lifetime.
And if you have the time to thoroughly wade through each light fixture’s test results and understand how
each light fixture’s thermal management system determines how many years you can expect out of your
pending purchase, then they are very informational.
But there is a good chance that after having done some initial research, having arranged for a thorough
in-store test or tests, and having had a handful of meetings on the subject with sales personnel and your
own team (using the new system cost perspective), your time might be running short as you still need to
pick out refrigeration cases, tile, meet the HVAC guy and finish a performance review.
One way to pull back the curtain made of the reams of stats and quickly get to the heart of the matter is
a simple look at each respective LED fixture’s warranty. The fine print, or lack thereof, will tell
you all you need to know about the confidence each light manufacturer has in their own
product’s quality and ultimate longevity. Be careful of the 10-year warranty that turns
into a 6-year warranty with conditions when you get to the second page.
If a light manufacturer is betting their own money their fixture will truly last
longer than a competitors’, that is a clear sign they have great faith in the product
they are delivering to your store.
Just 80 years ago, a market’s options for lighting were basically incandescent
bulbs—GE, Sylvania or Westinghouse. Before the year is out, there will be more
than 1,000 options and the ability to have lights “speak” to your customers.
Across the entire spectrum of supermarket operations, technologies continue
to advance rapidly, and data becomes more and more important.
LED will continue to advance, and the result will be even more data and more
choices. Options never dreamed of before will come to market in late 2016. Soon,
LED light fixtures will actually have the ability to be a communications and market-
ing platform directly connected to the shoppers themselves as Bluetooth WiFi connec-
tivity is added. As a shopper passes in proximity to a certain fixture in a supermarket, an
app could then send a notification from that fixture to the shopper’s smartphone about a certain
product, an ongoing sale or a coupon. Whatever the grocers’ marketing team can dream up, the fixture
could then pass on directly to its shoppers via the digitally interconnected light system.
But no matter how advanced the technology or how vast the variety of options, the sure way to be posi-
tive you are getting the most out of your lighting investment is an old-fashioned one. You still have to kick
the tires, plunk the melons and squeeze the bread. In other words, see for yourself to make sure that in a
true “apples to apples” manner you have chosen the lighting system that will help fill more shopping carts
at the lowest lifetime cost.
Rhoades has been directly involved in illuminating supermarkets for more than a quarter-century.
Previously a managing partner of an electrical contractor serving grocers in the St. Louis area and the
Midwest, he now oversees the North American operations for Germany-based BÄRO Retail Lighting.
BÄRO North America is a lighting manufacturer that designs, engineers and produces LED lighting prod-
ucts focused on the American fresh food market illumination. BÄRO works directly with independent and
regional grocers.
Instead of how
much does this fixture
cost, the question should
be how much will it cost to
effectively light the entire produce
department, bakery department,
etc., using this fixture over at least
five years. Again, making sure that
comparable light quality and intensity
are being achieved, this new question
will result in an answer that truly
details the best lighting choice
for your market and your
profit margin.