“Wawa was looking to reduce energy costs through various ways at our locations,” said Scott Boorse, Wawa’s energy and petroleum operations manager, who spoke exclusively to CSNews Online. “One of the tools we identified was to utilize LED lighting in our cooler boxes. We had done some tests and discovered that LED lighting would reduce our cooler box lighting costs by about 70 percent. And since LED lights last a long time, we felt our maintenance costs would also decrease.”
For the consumer, Boorse noted that LED lighting is more attractive than its traditional counterpart and “provides an overall better lighting environment for the customer.”
Saving money on operating costs is a huge boon to any convenience store operator. However, the customer also needs to like what he or she sees to make the new lighting system successful. Boorse said Wawa’s customers definitely like what they’re seeing, and he noted that feedback took place even before shoppers got their first glance at it.
“Store associates immediately noticed a difference the day following the installation,” the energy and petroleum operations manager recalled. “I can only remember positive comments about [the new LED system]. I don’t think we had any negative comments from store associates or any customer issues.”
More specifically, Boorse relayed that during intercepts, Wawa customers commented that the LED system made colors “truer, brighter and made things pop.”
“For example, the blue color of Gatorade really pops,” he said. “And the silver color of cans of Coke, Pepsi or another brand really sparkle when the light hits them. Also, consumers said everything [on the beverage] was clear and easy to see and read.”
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