Dear colleagues,

In many countries, even before the mandatory closing of shops during to the global pandemic of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the retail sector was facing considerable challenges with the growth of e-commerce, economic crises, environmental concerns, and the changing nature of consumers’ behaviors and attitudes. Nevertheless, for many retailers, the physical store still has the potential to be (or to become) a crucial touchpoint in the interaction with their consumers, on the condition that it has the necessary functional, clearly distinctive, and brand-coherent qualities and is able to establish an emotional connection with the target market. Within this context, lighting as a design aspect is an especially interesting component. Indeed, the field of lighting itself has also evolved drastically in recent decades due to fundamental technological innovations, most notably the advent of LED lighting, but also an increasing awareness of the importance of applying a broad approach to lighting design, including both sustainability criteria but also the integration of visual and nonvisual aspects (e.g., human-centered lighting). Not surprisingly, the issue of lighting in retail environments has been addressed in several studies, especially by investigating specific aspects of consumers’ responses (e.g., perceptual, emotional or behavioral) as a function of specific (objective) lighting parameters. Although this research has already yielded a considerable knowledge base, there is also a need for a more holistic and applied perspective. Indeed, in retail (design) practice, the difficulties usually lie in striking the right balance between many, sometimes quite diverging, requirements and ambitions along several dimensions (e.g., financial, economic, ecological, societal, psychological, ergonomic, legal) and several stakeholders (e.g., the brand, consumer, staff). In addition, there is still a lack of knowledge and data with regard to what type of interventions really “work” in real-life settings and the magnitude of the impact relative to required investments.

Therefore, the goal of this Special Issue of Sustainability is to try to shed some light on the complex interactions, trade-offs and effective ROIs that are associated with retail lighting. We invite theoretical, empirical, and review papers and welcome a diversity of methodological approaches (e.g., critical analysis of innovative retail projects, experimental approaches, simulation studies, research by design) that, taken together, could provide some support for retailers and designers to implement effective, efficient, and innovative design solutions

Dr. Jan Vanrie
Dr. Katelijn Quartier
Guest Editors

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• retail
• retail design
• lighting
• experience
• store environment
• consumer behaviour
• human-centered lighting