Help Your Customers Paint the Landscape to Match the Seasons!
There’s something magical about fall. Temperatures start to cool, darkness comes earlier and there’s the anticipation of the many holiday celebrations throughout the last three months of the year. So what’s a retailer to do? Be sure to turn one or more sections of your store into the go-to place for fall outdoor lighting!
Start by making a large map or lighting checklist at the door for your customers to read, with arrows pointing to the locations of the relevant displays. Suggested lighting categories might be Safety & Security, Beauty & Curb Appeal, Outdoor Living Space and Holiday. Some lighting products will cross categories, so be sure to place those in multiple locations. And if you can display some photos showing off the results of nighttime lighting, you’ll generate even more interest. In fact, poll your customers to see if they’d be willing to share any photos they might have. A number may well have great snapshots of their homes lit up at night. You could even hold a before and after lighting contest, with the submitted photos being judged by a local architectural landscape company or realtor, with prizes being awarded at the end of January.
Safety & Security
Outdoor lighting can do so much more than mark the location of the front door! Nighttime lighting not only eliminates those deep shadows but also makes it safer to navigate the yard. Options include solar, battery operated and low voltage. Path lights, floodlights and motion-detection lights can all alleviate these issues.
Beauty & Curb Appeal
A house lit up at night looks enchanting. Plus, those carefully placed lights will increase a home’s market value! And with nightfall coming earlier, more and more people will be out and about while it’s dark. By highlighting special plants, landscape features and key architectural elements with bullet spotlights, post lights, driveway lights and wall sconces, the most mundane home will take on a special glow at dusk, dawn and those dark hours in between.
Outdoor Living Space
Fewer daylight hours shouldn’t rule out the use of the patio for entertaining at night—or the use of solar. Solar string lights are perfect for trees, shrubs, trellises and more. For sheltered spots where A/C outlets can be accessed, in addition to rope lights, color-changing LED flat/strip lights create great accents. Solar torches define the perimeter, as do deck lights.
Holiday
Most landscape lighting is subdued. But holiday lighting is fun and festive. Display those Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas lights and inflatables, but also include specially designed laser lights that throw hundreds of colored stars across the landscape. Interior windowsill dressings impart a warm and inviting holiday feeling, so stock both battery as well as solar holiday candles. Don’t forget path and string lights that change colors! And finally, be sure to display extension cords that can be used outside along with outdoor timers.
So there’s no need to suffer winter blues. Help your customers light up the night while you diversify your sales beyond the typical holiday decorations.