Understanding the Impact of Retail Industry Changes on Asset Management
Historically, major retailers have expected around a 15-year lifespan for their physical locations, but Amazon’s market disruption and dominance have changed all of this. Due to the convenience and speed of Amazon Prime, customers now expect to make purchases easily online that can be delivered in two days or less with no shipping charge. As a result, retailers have begun setting up their brick-and-mortar stores to be more like distribution centers for online purchases.
With this shift, retailers are now focused on getting more life out of their locations. These physical locations include commercial lighting poles, making lighting asset management more important than ever for retailers.
How to Set Up Your Retailer Lighting Asset Management Program
Under previous retail models, retailers could get away with little light pole maintenance because they didn’t expect to be in their physical locations for more than 15 years. Now, it’s critical to take care of all outside structures to ensure their long-term durability. If you’re looking to strengthen your brick-and-mortar presence in the Amazon age, you need a robust asset management program to support your goals.
Include the following steps in your program to ensure structural integrity for your lighting poles.
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Baseline Pole Inspection
To start, you’ll need to conduct a comprehensive baseline light pole inspection of all your existing assets. This inspection can bring to light any large-scale issues with your pole design and construction. It should not simply determine if your lights turn on and off properly. Instead, it should take a deep dive into the poles’ age, materials used, weather impact, design specifications, and more.
With this approach, you’ll garner insights that can guide the next phases of your program, so you’re equipped to make decisions about structural repairs, quality assurance, and procurement. While the large-scale light pole inspection can be a significant time investment up front, it’s a foundational first step toward long-term asset sustainability for your physical retail location.
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Immediate Light Pole Repairs
The results of your baseline pole inspection should highlight your most urgent light pole repair and replacement needs. If a pole does not require replacement, your professional inspectors can design and complete the needed repairs simultaneously with the inspection.
These repairs should be a top priority so that you can keep your customers and other pedestrians out of harm’s way. If your poles require in-depth repairs or all-out replacements, these should be accounted for in your light pole maintenance plan and prioritized according to urgency level.
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Light Pole Maintenance Plan
Your maintenance plan covers regular, ongoing work required for ensuring your lighting poles remain structurally sound. You can use the data from your baseline pole inspection to build out a budget and timeline for addressing your at-risk structures and monitoring the rest for potential issues.
With this plan, you can minimize upfront costs and strategically schedule asset repairs, replacements, and re-inspections for many years. Additionally, your plan should include ongoing design and construction review, as well as armload and laboratory testing.
Exo Helps Retailers Enhance Brick and Mortar
Even as the eCommerce market continues to grow, it’s clear that brick-and-mortar retail isn’t going away. It’s simply changing to meet new customer demands for both online and in-person services.
As retailers prepare for this new business model, they cannot afford to neglect the status of their physical structures. By taking a strategic, proactive approach to lighting pole repairs and inspections, you’ll be well-positioned to keep your lighting assets around for a long time and minimize the risk of costly, dangerous pole failures.
Exo has worked with retailers just like you to establish successful lighting asset management programs. We’d love to tell you more. Contact our team today for more info.
Get Started with Exo
Ready to Work With Us?
Our team would love to talk to you, so we can learn about your lighting company’s goals and primary areas of concern. Contact us today, and we’ll help you take the first step in creating a comprehensive lighting asset management program. Give us a call at 281-259-7000.
