A bright future Philips Lighting

A BRIGHT FUTURE

Sustainability, simplification and the shopping experience – Philips Lighting is switching its customers on to its complete solutions. Abigail Saltmarsh reports.

Philips Lighting is about far more than just supplying lights and controls – it is about finding business-building solutions. Pierre Van Lamsweerde, general manager of retail and hospitality professional lighting solutions, at the company, said its strategy was to help its customers to grow.

“We used to be about the manufacture of lamps but now we are a solutions provider. We have had a very positive reaction to the change and good feedback from customers who have taken our advice.”

A deep understanding

Philips is a proven global leader in developing innovative and environmentally progressive lighting technologies for retailers, he went on. The company’s solutions enable new and more efficient uses of light that can transform retail outlets and hotels both visually and practically, offering a consultative approach for retailers looking for lighting solutions that can set them apart from the competitors.

In retail, he said, the company had a deep experience and thorough understanding of consumers’ habits, coupled with knowledge of what retailers needed. It had used this knowledge to work with a variety of leading brands globally offering tailored solutions to each and every one.

Sustainable solutions

“We have three business proposals that we work towards as a solutions provider,” he said. “These have been proven to work, to help retailers achieve maximum impact through meaningful and valuable shopping solutions, while reducing energy output and keeping running costs low.”

The first area is sustainability, he said. The company’s high-quality, efficient, price-tiered solutions open the door for brands to benefit from sustainable practices, which can stimulate the shopping experience.

“But it has also been proven that improved lighting can be a revenue generator as well,” he stressed. “A recent example is a supermarket that changed its lighting and saw an increase in average sales of 1.9 per cent per customer.”

Increase in sales

Working together to determine how consumers respond to different in-store lighting scenarios the supermarket PLUS, and Philips Lighting, carried out the 21-week field research project in the Netherlands.

Using different LED-based lighting scenarios, the study was designed to measure the impact of light on the buying behaviour of customers. The system used the AmbiScene lighting concept designed to use different settings to enhance the shopping experience by introducing lighting to create specific atmospheres. Results also showed that customers spent more time in the areas lit with warmer light settings than cooler ones.

“As well as that, of course, there are cost saving solutions by changing to more energy efficient lighting. Supermarkets, for example, can make savings of up to 70 per cent, which is quite considerable.”

He added: “There are also great savings to be made in hotels. Some examples have been Hilton and Accor, where we replaced all the halogen lamps and each one saved about €55.

A leader in lighting

Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips has 119,000 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of €25.4

PARTS USED ON TRAIN SEATS

PARTS USED FOR LIGHTING ROADS

billion in 2010, the company is a market leader in cardiac and acute care and as home healthcare, as well as lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure. It is also a leader in energy-efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, and has a with strong leadership position in flat TV, male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral healthcare.

As the world’s leader in lighting, Philips provides advanced energy-efficient solutions for all segments: road lighting, office and industrial, hospitality and home – and has been instrumental in enhancing sustainability through innovations in lighting technology.

“We have about 53,000 employees globally in lights,” said Mr Van Lamsweerde. “We produce in Europe but we also produce regionally. We believe it is important to be flexible for our customers.”

Looking ahead in LED

Philips is also a leader in shaping the future, with exciting new lighting applications and technologies, such as LED, which, besides energy efficiency, provides attractive benefits and endless new lighting solutions.

One recent LED success story was in freezers, with supermarket Tesco. Tesco wanted an LED solution to not only make significant inroads in reducing its operating costs but also support their commitment to provide customers with a better place to shop.

Philips deployed Affinium LED freezer modules replacing the interior fluorescent lighting of Tesco’s freezer cabinet estate in more than 750 stores, reducing its freezer lighting energy by around 60 per cent, while at the same time ensuring excellent light quality. The Affinium LED freezer modules offer Tesco virtual zero maintenance and the initiative is assisting in Tesco’s targets to halve carbon emissions in its existing stores by 2020.

The future, Mr Van Lamsweerde stressed, is in LED and digital lighting: “There are huge savings to be made out there, and there are so many environmental benefits. “If all retailers moved over to energy efficient solutions 79 million tonnes of CO2 would be saved. There are still a lot of changes to be made out there, and Philips is leading the revolution.” n

PARTS USED ON ENGINES

Via Don L. Sturzo, 14 20832 - DESIO (MB) Tel. +39 0362 306144 - 307883 Fax +39 0362 638009