The Ultimate Guide to Commercial Outdoor Lighting

You know commercial outdoor lighting changes the way a business looks, but the value it provides doesn’t stop there. During the day, sunlight provides natural lighting for shoppers to see you’re open for business, but nighttime can diminish that visibility and foot traffic into your store. When visitors see lights around your landscape or on your building, they know you’re open for business, have a distinct personality, and are going to welcome them inside the store. 

Haven Lighting’s smart landscape lighting system makes it easy to harness the full potential of commercial outdoor lighting. Here, we define what outdoor business lighting is, discuss its benefits, and share the various types of outdoor LED lighting fixtures you can use.

Outdoor LED lighting solutions include functional outdoor led lighting fixtures and decorative outdoor led lighting. 

You can use functional LED outdoor lighting to light up entrances and exits and decorative commercial outdoor lighting to create your desired mood or highlight an architectural feature on your landscape. In addition, you can incorporate energy efficiency into your exterior lighting.

Outdoor business led lights serve a different purpose than indoor lighting. For instance, you may use bright natural white light inside your store to draw attention to a new display case. This light may be more focused. Outside, you may use a similar bright light to help customers see a parking lot safely, but this light may be more diffused to cover a wider area.

There are several reasons to invest in outdoor lighting. Let’s break down four of the biggest benefits of outdoor business lighting here.

1. Competitive Advantage for Your Business

Every business has a distinguishing feature that helps it stand apart from its competitors. However, this unique selling point may not be immediately visible to your customers. In a marketplace packed with stores selling similar items and services, outdoor commercial lighting gives your business a competitive advantage.

Imagine walking by two similar stores that are next to each other. One is dark with an “open” sign, while the other is lit up in beautiful colors. You will likely gravitate toward the one with LED lights. 

By simply illuminating your business building in inviting colors, you stand a stronger chance of getting more traffic to your store. Colors and lights are a great way to show what makes your company and products or services different from The Other Guys.

2. Opportunity To Own Your Business Branding

Speaking of differentiation, your business has an opportunity to create a personality of its own through various means. These include the fonts you use on your storefront, the decor of your business’s interiors, the way you welcome your guests, and more. Color is one of the most powerful ways to add personality to your business. 

If you have specific brand colors you use on letterheads or for business cards,  consider using those same colors to light up your building. Get more creative by lighting up an exterior feature like a water fountain. Whenever someone passes by your business building, they will be greeted by your brand colors.

The value of having someone identify your brand, even when your business may be closed for the night, offers an incredible opportunity for you to establish yourself in your customer’s minds. 

3. Inviting Entryway & Easy Exploration for Your Customers

You may have noticed yourself walking by a store in the summer and feeling a blast of cool air. That comforting air is enough to make you want to enter that store even if just to get respite from the heat. Similarly, you can use outdoor business lighting to make your entryways more inviting. 

Clearly mark the entryway to your store or office, so people don’t have a tough time finding their way in. The more easily customers can access your business, the more likely they are to want to shop or learn more about your services.

If you are fortunate enough to have outdoor spaces such as a garden, invite customers to explore sections of your exterior by installing path lights to create a route for them to follow.

4. Easier Navigation for Customers and Your Team

While aesthetics are an integral part of your business, outdoor LED lighting fixtures are also a good way to prevent slips and injuries. 

Landscape lighting brightens paths, entrances, exits, and the surrounding areas of your property. Customers feel more comfortable walking in patches of light that illuminate everything around them, including others in the vicinity. 

Besides customers, your employees will also feel more comfortable coming to work and heading home at night when the parking lot, paths, and doors are clearly visible with energy efficiency-optimized LED outdoor lights.

Outdoor commercial LED lights provide an easy blend of form and function that benefits your business.