The Carrefour hypermarket in Lille, France has replaced its fluorescent lighting with 2.5km of LED lighting from Philips that can also transmit location signals to a shopper's smartphone, triggering an app to provide location based services.
The system in operation at the hypermarket comprises 800 linear LED fixtures that use Visible Light Communication technology to transmit a unique code that can be detected by a smartphone's camera. The Philips system enables Carrefour to help shoppers to navigate their way around the 7800m² store and to find promotions. The positioning technology is said to be accurate to within 1m, while the LED lighting will reduce the total lighting-based electricity consumption of the hypermarket by 50%.
"We are always on the lookout for innovations to facilitate customers' navigation in our stores and meet consumers' expectations," Céline Martin, director of Commercial Models and Innovation for Carrefour hypermarkets, said: "Thanks to this application, we are now able to provide our customers with a new service, enabling them to quickly search and locate their preferred promotions or detect all the promotions around them when in-store."
* For more on VLC, see http://www.newelectronics.co.uk/electronics-technology/can-leds-help-to-solve-the-looming-spectrum-congestion-problem/59424/
Author
Tom Austin-Morgan
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk