Background to the innovative idea, showing how the company met a challenge
The lighting sector that Asco Lights works within is a crowded marketplace and to stand out requires a significant amount of insight and innovation. We feel that we have risen to this challenge and over the last 12 months have totally transformed our business, which is the reason why we are nominating it, and the people who have made this all possible – our wonderful team – for this award.
History and the challenges we have faced
Asco Lights offers lighting products, lighting design, bespoke lighting and lighting consultancy to private and commercial clients throughout the UK and overseas. For over a decade we have been relying on quality products and service excellence to differentiate our business from the competition. However, recently we have recognised that this alone will not be enough to future-proof our business. The economic pinch has led to far more value conscious customers, our tech-savvy audience has required us to rethink the way we present ourselves and our offering, and sustainability has well and truly come to the fore in the client decision-making process.
How we approached these challenges
The market and economic changes we have reacted to have been gathering momentum for some time, and around 12 months ago we decided to tackle them head-on. The close relationships we have with our clients and the resulting finger on the pulse of our market meant that when we sat down to discuss the future, ideas just flowed. We unanimously agreed to spare no expense to incorporate the necessary changes in our business to offer today’s customers what they want, the way they want it, and it seems that these innovations are having a significant positive impact on our business, its reputation and our bottom line.
Evidence of the innovation itself
After much consideration, we decided to approach the above-mentioned challenges – proof of value, access and sustainability – by incorporating four distinct innovations into our business:
1. Our new ultra-modern, interactive lighting studio
The opening of our showroom in Stockport marked the start of a new era in our business. Unlike any existing lighting centre in the UK our showroom offers more than simply an opportunity to view high-end lighting brands such as Swarovski and Bocci up close. It offers an interactive and immersive experience where, through the use of sophisticated home automation controls, visitors are able to see how different colours, intensities and light sources can be used to set moods, segment, accent or spotlight features or spaces like never before.
Over and above this, our showroom is also a working design studio with lighting designers and interior designers, home automation specialists and furniture designers who can be called upon to assist in the development of lighting strategies, engage in the international sourcing of unique products or utilise their extensive experience and immense flair to design bespoke lighting for clients. The feedback we have received to date has been uplifting.
Our studio offers our customers added value, access to both lighting products and expertise, and through our extensive use of LED lighting we are able to offer sustainable solutions that can help to substantially reduce any private or corporate client’s carbon footprint.
2. 3D visualisation service
To understand the intricate ways in which subtle changes to position, strength, concentration and source of light can dramatically change the aesthetic and emotional qualities of a space is something that takes years of experience and a strong blend of natural sciences and mathematics. Until relatively recently, customers have simply been expected to trust that their lighting experts have correctly interpreted their needs or have the creative talent to fulfil the expectations of their brief. We felt that it was important to draw our clients further into the design process to allow them to see, with as much accuracy as today’s technology will allow, what the finished results of our work will look like. Essentially we give the minds-eye a helping hand.
Our 3D rendering service and immersive walk-through experiences afford our designs an additional dimension. Clients can now view their lighting designs virtually before we start any installation, which improves efficiency, allows for changes to designs to be made at lower costs and more rapidly, and leads to more satisfied clients who receive exactly what they were expecting, every time.
3. Innovative interactive iPhone App
An increasingly tech-savvy customer base expects immediate access to all the information they will need to make a decision on their lighting, to be involved in the design process, and to be able to do so from wherever they are.
Asco Lights have developed a sophisticated smartphone app that allows anyone to be their own lighting designer, putting the power of creation in their hands, literally. Using actual products and images from our customer controllable lighting studio, our app enables the user to choose the colour, source, intensity and position of the lighting in our virtual showroom space so they can see how each decision dramatically affects the way a room looks and feels. This is an educational tool, a buying aid and lots of fun. Additionally, users are able to upload an image of any space they choose and place lighting products that we can supply, inside the space so they can see how this will look and how these lights should be positioned, once again drawing the customer into the design process to increase satisfaction all round.
4. Lighting feng shui
Who are we to argue with thousands of years of Chinese health and wellbeing advice? Feng shui has long been accepted in the West for its many benefits in both the home and the workplace. The interior designers that we work with have found growing numbers of clients have been requesting that every aspect of their spaces should conform to the positioning expectations of this discipline. Therefore, we at Asco Lights have recently adopted feng shui as an option for all of our clients should they wish it to be incorporated within their lighting design.
Feng shui is far more than a fad and has seen popularity soar in the UK in recent years. And, because we are keen to listen to the expectations of our customers and adapt our business accordingly we have sought out an exceptional feng shui specialist who now consults with us on client requests.
Listening to our audience, learning from what they have to say about us, and putting into place sensible changes to our business that reflect current preference has kept us agile and competitive.
Examples of how this has improved commercial performance and operational effectiveness
The innovations we have introduced bring with them several significant benefits.
Firstly, by involving our clients more in the design process, through being their own lighting designer with our smartphone app, talking directly with lighting designers, interior designers and home automation specialists in our studio and with the help of our 3D visualisation stage, we have created a far more efficient and customer-orientated service.
Next, through our use of advanced technology and ancient discipline we have moved closer to a level of engagement with our audience that they are comfortable with. The immediacy and access expectations of today’s society offers us an opportunity to be more open and involved with our customer relationships, and the methodology of the Chinese art of feng shui tempers the pace of modern life with the assuredness of thousands of years of positioning perfection.
Asco Lights has seen its best trading year in recent memory and with uplift in turnover of approximately 30% in this time, we are confident that we are on the right track.
That being said, we do not intend to rest on our laurels as we already have many more plans to introduce new innovations in 2013.
Additional Information to support the application
To support our recent innovations we have also launched a brand new website – www.asco-lifestyle.co.uk – designed to give the potential customer a view of the quality of our work, the expectations we have of ourselves and all the customer engagement technologies of our smartphone app and more in our aptly named Inspiration Zone. Our site has also been developed to build customer loyalty through regularly updated information and articles, new products and processes so our audience can connect with our brand.
For my own part, I have been reaching out to the media in an attempt to share my knowledge of the industry, its high-end products and best practices with as wide an audience as possible. As a result, my articles have been published in industry magazines, on websites and in a national newspaper. This is something I aim to continue with as I am keen to spread my passion for the illumination that we provide.
I hope you feel we have shown that innovation is at the core of our business and we would welcome any questions you have to ask of us. Also, if you would like to visit our showroom/studio we would be delighted to meet with you and show you around so you can see for yourself just how incredibly useful the experience is for our customers. I look forward to hearing from you soon, and if you wish to contact me please do call me on 0161 207 0212.
