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There are lots of ways in which we can make food look a little more appetising, but you probably didn’t realise that using LED lighting might be one of them.

When it comes to selling products, lighting plays a very significant role, effectively catching the customer's attention.

Traditionally, exclusive jewellers and boutiques selling designer clothing have utilised lighting to great effect, creating lighting systems specifically designed to highlight a particular item or range.

Supermarkets Catch On To LEDs

But now grocers and, more specifically, supermarkets have begun to capitalise on LED lighting in order to improve the aesthetic quality of their fruit and veg’ displays.

It’s well known that vibrant colours affect the way we perceive objects. This is especially the case when it comes to foodstuffs. Indeed, the quality of lighting can make the difference between a sold-out product and a counter filled with rotten bananas.

Artificial lighting’s effectiveness and efficacy depends upon its ability to accurately replicate the true colour of sunlight, and LED lighting in particular is the ideal type to achieve this.

How It Works

This is because, in comparison with the fluorescent lights they’re fast replacing, LEDs have a particularly high CRI (Colour-Rendering Index) score.

In a scale from 1 to 100, the CRI of a lighting product denotes its similarity to natural sunlight, with anything of 80 or more being especially good in relation to food.

Typically, LEDs have an 80+ CRI, and some spectacular results are now being achieved, making a 98 CRI (almost perfect naturalistic light) a distinct possibility in the not-too-distant future.

Not only does this improved light quality make the food look more vibrant and appetising, the clean, bright illumination gives the store a refreshing outdoor market feel to which customers respond in a subconscious yet powerfully visceral way.

Not only are the supermarkets beginning to adopt LED lighting for their fresh produce, many are also introducing it in their freezer sections as well. They’re getting wise to the fact that LEDs will help with their environmental initiatives, whilst enabling them to drive down energy costs, using energy-efficient lights that don’t heat up their coolers as fluorescents were prone to do.

Long-Lasting & Energy-Efficient

The cool-running feature of LEDs means that not only are they much more likely to achieve their full 50,000 hour life-expectancy, it also means they save the supermarket a considerable amount of money; savings that are passed on to its customers.

Plans are currently underway at both Tesco and Sainsbury in the UK, to introduce energy-efficient LED lighting across the board in their stores, with savings of between 50% and 70% predicted.

And in the US, the Target retail chain plans to install LED lighting in refrigerated cases in 500 sores. By switching to LEDs for reach-in freezer and cooler door cases, the company expects to cut energy use by 60% relative to the formerly-used fluorescent systems.

“We continue to find ways we can increase energy efficiency and pilot new technologies. Efforts like these, which help reduce one of our largest operating expenses, also curtail our impact on the environment,” said Tony Heredia, Target Vice President.

In total, the conversions will cover more than 55,000 display-case doors. Target hopes to reduce display-case energy use from 25.6 million kW/h to 10.7 million kW/h.

The superior lighting quality, increased longevity and energy-saving potential of LED lighting isn’t just confined to supermarkets either, because you’ll be able to take advantage of all its great features for your home.

So if you’d like to chat about switching to LED lighting for your home, why not call the experts today on 0116 321 4120?

Any member of our customer service team will be happy to answer any of your questions, or you could send us an e-mail enquiry to cs@wled.co.uk if you’d prefer.