Visible light communications (VLC) based on LED has been applied in an innovative project of Philips in a Carrefour hypermarket in Lille. LED lighting fixtures capable of guiding shoppers to discount bargains have been installed on a length of 2.5 kilometers and achieve an energy consumption saving of 50%.


The new application enables customer them to quickly search and locate their preferred products or detect special promotions via a smart phone.
The VLC implementation in Lille is based on Philips luminaires and reaches distances of under one meter only. Philips offers a cloud-based database and software which retailers can use to allow interactive shopping in their stores.
Shoppers are supposed to use the application through devices like smartphones, but currently only an app for the Iphone is available. A situation which certainly has to be improved, if “smart shopping” through VLC shall have a considerable impact on the market.gm