Why Daylight is Essential in Retail

Transforming Customer Experience & Store Performance with Natural Light

Daylight does more than brighten a store, it shapes customer behaviour, boosts sales, and improves staff wellbeing. With Solatube Rooflight Tunnels, retailers can create vibrant, sustainable, and cost-effective shopping environments that benefit customers, staff, and the bottom line.

Why Daylight is Essential in Retail

For Customers

• Enhances shopping experience – Naturally lit spaces feel open, fresh, and welcoming, encouraging longer visits.
• True-to-life colours – Daylight reveals products in their natural tones, increasing customer confidence in purchases.
• Boosts mood & wellbeing – A naturally lit environment is proven to make customers feel more relaxed and engaged.

For Staff

• Better working conditions – Daylight reduces eye strain and fatigue, improving accuracy in tasks like stocking, checkout, and display.
• Supports wellbeing – Access to natural light helps improve morale, energy, and productivity.

For the Environment & Business Costs

• Lower electricity bills – Natural light reduces dependence on artificial lighting, cutting operational costs.
• Sustainability goals – Helps meet green building standards and achieve Net Zero.
• Improved bottom line – A better shopping environment leads to increased sales and customer satisfaction.

Smart Light Management

Retail requires flexibility. With daylight dimming controls, stores can adjust light levels to suit:

• Display clarity – Prevent glare on digital signage and POS screens.
• Ambience control – Match light levels to create inviting zones within the store.
• Product highlighting – Blend daylight with artificial light to spotlight merchandise effectively.

Daylight in Deep-Plan Retail Spaces

Many retail environments—especially large supermarkets, department stores, and warehouses, use deep plan layouts where natural light rarely penetrates beyond the perimeter. This leaves much of the sales floor dependent on artificial light.

Solatube Rooflight Tunnels bring daylight right into the heart of the store:

• Balanced distribution – Even light levels across the entire sales floor, from front displays to back aisles.
• Product visibility – Consistent, natural illumination improves how products look and feel.
• Energy efficiency – Reduces the need for high-output artificial lighting in interior zones.

The result is a brighter, more inviting shopping environment, where customers enjoy their experience and retailers benefit from increased sales and lower operating costs.

Sales Uplift with Daylight

Daylight doesn’t just reduce costs, it drives sales growth:

• Research has shown that naturally lit retail stores can experience sales increases of up to 40% compared to artificially lit environments.
• Shoppers are more likely to spend longer in bright, naturally lit spaces, directly impacting revenue.
• Natural light enhances perceived product quality, especially in food, fashion, and home goods sectors, leading to higher conversion rates.

By creating a brighter, more appealing atmosphere, daylight delivers a clear return on investment, paying back in both reduced energy costs and increased sales performance.

Adaptive Solutions for Any Store

Retrofit with Ease

Solatube systems can be added to existing stores quickly and with minimal disruption, avoiding downtime.

Designed for the Future

For new retail builds, daylighting can be integrated into the design from the start, maximising natural light and reducing long term energy demands.

Alignment with Daylight

Retail operating hours often overlap heavily with daylight—especially in high street stores, shopping centres, and supermarkets. Across the UK, most stores operate during 8–12 hours of daylight availability throughout the year.

This means that with effective daylighting, artificial lighting should be required only as a supplement, not as the default. From morning trade to evening close, natural light can cover the majority of operational hours—supporting healthier, more sustainable, and more profitable retail spaces.

At a Glance: Daylight Benefits by Retail Function

Light the Way Forward

Daylight is more than illumination—it’s an experience. From customer satisfaction and higher sales to staff wellbeing and energy efficiency, daylight delivers measurable results across retail.

With dimming controls for sensitive areas, balanced lighting for deep plan layouts, and retrofit or new-build options, Solatube rooflight tunnels offer retailers a proven way to enhance both atmosphere and profitability.

👉 Contact us today to discover how Solatube daylighting solutions can transform your retail environment.