Daylighting and Retail Sales - Save Energy While Increasing Sales

Daylighting of retail sales is not a new concept, but over the last few years, more and more national brand retailers are turning to daylighting as a way to reduce the rising cost of energy while increasing lighting standards in their store designs. However, energy savings through daylighting is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to opportunity for the retailer. Studies by Pacific Gas and Electric as well as follow up studies by the California Energy Commission have shown that high performance daylighting can increase retail sales substantially. In 2003, the California Energy Commission released a technical report titled Daylighting and Retail Sales outlining their findings in a study of 73 chain stores of which 24 stores had a significant amount of daylight. These stores were monitored over a three year period. The study was modeled after the Pacific Gas & Electric study which initially found that daylighting had a significant influence on retail sales.
 
The California Energy Commission’s study affirmed the results of the PG&E study with many significant statistics.Daylight was found to have as much explanatory power in predicting sales as other more traditional measures of retail potential, such as parking area, number of local competitors, and neighborhood demographics. Also, though the primary motivation for the inclusion of daylight was to save on energy costs by turning off electric lights during the high energy demand time of day, the value of energy savings from the daylighting is far overshadowed by the value of the predicted increase in sales due to daylighting. By the most conservative estimate, the profit from increased sales associated with daylight is worth at least 19 times more than the energy savings, and more likely, may be worth 45-100 times more than the energy savings.

Daylighting is the most cost effective solar option for many retailers. However, energy efficiency is but the tip of the iceberg in profit opportunity for retailers.

You can access a copy of the Executive Summary from the California Energy Commission’s report by clicking here.