Car dealerships exist to sell cars, and the design of the building can have a dramatic impact on the dealership’s success. Adding comfortable natural daylighted to an indoor environment has been known to increase sales and can add a ‘wow factor’ if done right. So why wouldn’t you consider incorporating natural daylight into your car dealership design?

In this competitive environment, it isn’t enough for a dealer to just have the best product. Customers need to be given a ‘buying experience’ that sets the stage for them to feel comfortable, see the product in the best light and in the end, buy the vehicle. Natural daylight is one element that can help contribute to creating the optimal buying experience for customers and, also offer employees a better work environment.

But creating an optimal interior environment is not as simple as adding more vision glass, as it inherently results in glare, contrast, and overheating. Squinting customers can’t experience vehicles fully in this environment. Fortunately, an optimal naturally daylit space can be created with a combination of vision glass for view and connection to the outside, paired with engineered light diffusing glass to provide comfortable broad angle glare free illumination. The diffuse light backlights shadows and illuminates the interior more uniformly.  This creates a delightful indoor environment where human perception works better, and colors are rendered perfectly. This is the ideal retail environment.

Here are three reasons why natural daylight should be on your radar to sell more cars and increase employee performance.

1. Providing access to uplifting natural daylight can help increase the amount of money customers spend at your dealership

A 2016 study by Beepi Consumer Automotive Index shows that 87% of customers dislike something about shopping at a traditional car dealership.[ii] Building owners have the ability to change the shopping experience for their customers. Small and personable changes can make people feel more at ease for purchasing an investment and make an important decision that many find daunting.

Natural daylight has been attributed to an increase in retail sales by up to 40% and in the automobile dealership – daylighting matters to your customers.[iii]  

Did you know the type of lighting you have in your store can change the color of the vehicles that you have on display? “The right color on a car can resonate with consumers”, explained Kenneth Lin, Director of Product Management for Subaru of America.[iv] The color of a vehicle plays a massive role in the purchase making decision. A customer may have their heart set on a certain color or shade that they admire whether it’s for the aesthetics of their new vehicle, cleanliness, insurance or personal reasons. Some car makers are performing product testing on the color of a vehicle itself, including Subaru, “When a new color is launched, it is again reviewed outside in daylight to confirm that there is color harmony between the body color and all the add-on parts (i.e. fascia, door handles, mirrors, etc.), which are usually sprayed at different assembly plants” says Kenneth Lin, Director of Product Management for Subaru of America.[v] Cars are made for being outside, so it only makes sense that customers get to see their car in outdoor settings and under the natural light of the sun.

Even more, the Eneref Institute reports “that adding daylight to a retail space makes the environment more conducive to purchasing decisions.” Creating a comfortable space for customers to first meet and communication their needs for a vehicle is a good start to helping people feel comfortable at your dealership. An easy way to do this is by incorporating natural daylight by adding a skylight or other opening to let daylight into your dealership.

2. Natural daylight increases productivity

It is no secret that natural daylight impacts people’s well-being. Humans love to be in the sunshine – it’s part of the reason Northerners flock to the tropics every winter. Creating a comfortable space for worker productivity should always include managed natural daylight.

Humans feel better after being exposed to sunlight whether it’s on a mountain hike or lounging in our own backyards. At work – why not take the next step and add natural daylight for your workers to help them feel their best while they’re inside.

Increased productivity has been linked to natural daylight time and time again. Occupational Health & Safety, the Eneref Institute, Forbes and Harvard Business Review all report the same message – natural daylight plays an essential role for increasing your company’s productivity levels.[i] By adding daylighting in your space, especially active spaces, sunshine can increase your employee’s productivity meaning more sales for your business.

3. Glare control is a common issue that disrupts work and creates a difficult setting when reading, writing, or working at a computer

Uncontrolled natural daylight can result in glare and hot spots creating a painful workspace for employees and customers. Blinds are often used to solve the problem, however, there’s an alarming report of 65% of buildings with blinds are permanently occluded, eliminating daylight from your space.

By adding equally diffused natural daylight in service areas that are face-paced workstations and have high customer traffic is an excellent tactic to combat glare. Everyone dislikes getting a harsh beam of sunlight in their eyes when working – it causes disruptions, headaches and creates an uncomfortable workspace which ultimately impacts your dealerships sales.

Choosing a daylighting solution that eliminates glare, keeps the natural daylight deep inside of your space and provides a glimpse of exterior views seems like an impossible task – but it doesn’t have to be. Solera and SoleraWall are both translucent glazing options that can help you provide all the above and so much more to automobile dealership.

We’re here to help you envision daylighting from the very start by offering complimentary daylight modeling so you can envision what Solera or SoleraWall would look like in your dealership so you can see the difference daylighting makes.

Click here to contact us to request your complimentary daylight model today: https://www.advancedglazings.com/contact

References:

>[i]       https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-1-office-perk-natural-light, https://ohsonline.com/articles/2019/11/27/five-ways-that-natural-light-improves-productivity-in-the-workplace.aspxhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/alankohll/2019/08/13/new-study-air-quality-and-natural-light-have-the-biggest-impact-on-employee-well-being/>

[ii]      https://www.walkerglass.com/acid-etched-glass-at-volvo/

[iii]     https://eneref.org/daylight-in-big-box-retail-stores/

[iv]     http://eneref.org/reports/eneref_daylight_retail_subaru.pdf

[v]      http://eneref.org/reports/eneref_daylight_retail_subaru.pdf