If you’ve ever wandered aimlessly around the supermarket looking for the last elusive ingredient on your shopping list, a new lighting system from Philips could help.

Intelligent LED lighting positioned throughout the store provides location-based information, which can be sent to a smartphone app as shoppers move around the store. This can include directions, new product suggestions, special offers and recipes.

The light fixtures combine to form a dense network that acts as a positioning grid, each fixture communicates its position to a phone using what Philips calls ‘Visual Light Communications’.

Here’s how it works. In the following example ‘David’ has decided to cook a Mexican meal for his friends this evening.

He chooses guacamole in the supermarket app he downloaded. It suggests a recipe for fresh guacamole that he accepts. The light fixture above David sends his location to his smartphone and the app plots a route to the ingredients. Spotting David’s location at the fresh vegetables selection, the light fixture prompts the app to offer him 50% off on avocados. David then receives a suggestion for a dessert of Mexican ‘churros.’ He opts for a ready-made option. The light fixture communicates his location and the app plots a route to the churros.

Gerben van der Lugt from Philips Lighting talks about the cost-effectiveness of the system:

“The beauty of the system is that retailers do not have to invest in additional infrastructure to house, power and support location beacons for indoor positioning.

“The light fixtures themselves can communicate this information by virtue of their presence everywhere in the store.”

As well as encouraging customer loyalty, LED lighting is energy efficient, reducing in-store electricity bills.

Philips is currently trialling the system with selected retailers.