|
Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) has installed MASTERColour Elite lamps to stunning effect within selected House of Fraser stores. As one of the UK’s favourite department stores, House of Fraser has a long established reputation for offering the world’s most famous brands. As choice and competition increases on the high street, it is crucial that retail displays and visual merchandising continue to attract consumers.
Good Lighting Sells
Lighting can play a vital role in this ensuring that in-store ambience is attractive and appealing and that the merchandise is enhanced to full effect. The Philips MASTERColour Elite delivers all of these requirements. As Mike Clare, Head of Engineering at House of Fraser, explains, “We want to treat our customers as if they were guests in our own home. Lighting can help us to do this by creating the right ambience in store. This it is particularly important for our fashion collections. One of our prime considerations is that the lighting we use gives a true representation of daylight. After all, our customers shouldn’t have to go outside to check the real colour. MASTERColour Elite gives us the confidence that they don’t have to.”
A mix of MASTERColour Elite 35 and 70 Watt lamps were used in 3 prime House of Fraser locations: Croydon’s Centrale shopping mall, the flagship store in London’s Oxford Street, and the City store in King William Street, also in the capital. Installation of the new lamps was carried out within the space of just two weeks to minimise any disruption to busy trading hours. Crucial to the speed and efficiency of this changeover was the delivery of some 5000 lamps supplied in full and on time by House of Fraser’s main distributor, The LightBulb Company, who understand the importance of tight deadlines demanded by high street retailers. Such has been the success of these 3 stores that the relamping and switch over to MASTER Elite will be rolled out across an additional 20 stores during 2008
Partnership Approach
Indeed, this partnership between Philips Lighting and House of Fraser has been developed further to the extent that store managers have now been instructed to procure all lamps via the LightBulb Company which will ensure that only Philips lamps will be supplied to stores. This means that product consistency and performance reliability can be enjoyed across the entire House of Fraser portfolio. In addition, since Philips wide range of lamps caters for the majority of application requirements within store, House of Fraser no longer needs to source from multiple suppliers.
Consistent Light Quality
One of the key benefits of MASTERColour Elite is its unique combination of unbeatable light quality and consistent performances over lifetime. This impacts not only on the purity of colour of the fabrics, but also on store image. MASTERColour Elite lamps have a lumen maintenance of 80% in comparison with conventional lamps of only 50%. For the store manager, therefore, this means that he can be confident that the look and feel of design scheme will remain consistent from time of initial install right through to proposed maintenance and relamping. As Peter Doherty, General Manager, of House of Fraser Oxford Street explains, “We need to know that our stores will look attractive and inviting at all times so that our customers have a consistent shopping experience each time they visit. Ultimately an attractive store will encourage shoppers to browse and shop for longer. MASTERColour Elite lamps give us that assurance as their quality and reliability are exceptional.”
Reliability of lamp performance also offers the opportunity to predetermine end of life allowing the potential for a group lamp replacement strategy to be put in place. This is generally the most cost-effective approach since it identifies the optimum time to replace all of the lamps at one time - calculated on the basis of making the most efficient use of the lamps and maintenance staff. Such group replacement will often be carried out at convenient times, so that disruption to staff and customers is minimised, and can often be timed to coincide with the cleaning of the light fittings.
Colour Integrity
Maintenance benefits apart one of the prime aspects of MASTERColour Elite is the potential influence it has on store trading. Trends, particularly in fashion, are forever changing none more so than in the colour palettes chosen for each season. Therefore, the excellent colour rendering properties of the lamp comes into its own here. This is particularly important during the autumn and as the winter months draw in. As the reliance on artificial light increases, so does the need to get as close to daylight as possible to maintain colour integrity. Not only do the clothes look vibrant and attractive on display but customers can purchase them knowing they will not be disappointed by any unexpected colour variation when they return home. Enhancing in-store image influences purchase decision but of course ensuring customer satisfaction post purchase is also a prerequisite of any successful retailer. Goods returned to store impact on overall turnover therefore factors influencing this become equally important. Since adopting MASTER Elite House of Fraser has now seen a reduction in goods being returned. As Peter Horrix, Director of Store Development, sums up, “ We’re really pleased with the visible change that MASTERColour Elite has brought to our business but more importantly so are our customers – and that has to be the key indicator of its success.”
For more information:
Philips Lighting, Philips Centre, Guildford Business Park, Guildford, GU2 8XH
Barbara Neate Tel; +44 1483 293 071
barbara.neate@philips.com
About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a global leader in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle, delivering products, services and solutions through the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 128,000 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 27 billion in 2006, the company is a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, personal care and home appliances, as well as consumer electronics. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter
House of Fraser is one of the best known names on the UK high street, and the acquisition of the company by the Highland consortium in November 2006 marked the beginning an exciting new chapter in the department store’s history.
With an enviable 61 locations across the UK & Ireland, House of Fraser has presented customers with an unrivalled nationwide department store for more than 150 years. The group has annual sales in excess of £1.25bn and employs 6,500 House of Fraser staff & 10,000 concession staff through 5 million sq ft of selling space. Customers can also shop at House of Fraser through the recently launched transactional website www.houseoffraser.co.uk.
| 
;)