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When Ian Robinson bought Beacon Lighting in 1975, the business was a single store in Prahran, Melbourne. Half a century later, Beacon is a national retail force with more than 130 stores, a global footprint and a reputation as one of Australia\u2019s most successful category specialists. <\/p>\n
A founding member of the Large Format Retail Association (known at the time as Bulky Goods Retailers Association), Robinson served as President for 14 years from 2002 to 2016 and continues as a Director. He began his career with Beacon Lighting in 1969 and purchased the business in 1975. He served as CEO until 2013, after which he moved into the roles of Executive Director and later Executive Chairman, a position he still holds.<\/p>\n
His career has been marked by industry honours, including the LFRA Warwick Shedden Memorial Trophy, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the lighting industry, the Medal of the Order of Australia last year,\u00a0and most recently the LFRA Lifetime Achievement Award.<\/p>\n
When asked about the key retail strategies that enabled Beacon Lighting to scale over the years, Robinson was quick to credit collaboration, culture and caution over conquest as the true foundations of growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole journey really started from franchising,\u201d Robinson told Inside Retail<\/em>. \u201cWe were part of the Large Format Retailers Association [formally the Bulky Goods Retailers Association] that was formed in 1999. It was a group of franchisors who got together and had to consider how they were going to grow the business. Franchising very much depended on the scale \u2013 the number of stores.\u201d<\/p>\n That sense of collective intelligence, he explained, proved vital. \u201cAssociations are very important, because you certainly don\u2019t know it all yourself. You\u2019ve got to associate with people to get their ideas and exchange information and learn from each other. Two minds are better than one.\u201d<\/p>\n Robinson\u2019s willingness to learn didn\u2019t stop at Australia\u2019s borders. In 1992, he joined one of the first Monash University retail study tours to the United States. What he encountered shaped the trajectory of Beacon Lighting and his own philosophy of retail.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would get information from the American retailers, because it was all public information about sales turnover, number of stores and growth, and we\u2019d go over to America,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom that trip in 1992, I learned you need to have something you could replicate \u2013 a business, a format that you could roll out.\u201d<\/p>\n But replication wasn\u2019t the only lesson. On repeated visits, Robinson noticed a deeper driver of success. <\/p>\n \u201cAfter two or three visits, it was all about the culture of the business. The ones who were more open and transparent, and the ones that involved their team, became very successful. The ones that had the old attitude of telling your team members what to do, they kind of slipped away.\u201d<\/p>\n That insight has become a touchstone for his leadership. Running around 130 stores with an estimated 1200 employees is akin to what Robinson dubs \u201ca team play\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a football team or any other team. You\u2019ve got to make sure that you\u2019ve got them empowered, and that they\u2019re excited about coming into work,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n When Robinson began his career, the idea of \u201clarge format\u201d retail barely existed. \u201cBack in 1967 or the early part of the 70s, there was no such thing as large-format retail,\u201d he recalled. <\/p>\n Over time, retail splintered into specialists. Bedding stores and electronics outlets could buy in bulk, showcase wider ranges and attract shoppers seeking a specific category. What began as a niche approach gradually expanded, becoming a dominant retail model.<\/p>\n According to the LFRA, the sector accounts for about 25 per cent of Australia\u2019s retail turnover and around 35 per cent of all retail floor space.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the Large Format Retail Association has been an incredible success story,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cIt certainly has changed dramatically. It\u2019s becoming a little bit more three-dimensional than a shopping experience just for the home. We\u2019re starting to see lifestyle come into it, in regard to gymnasiums, and I hope that we\u2019ll be able to have some more restaurants and things like that in the centres too \u2013 mainly to keep the dwell time there.\u201d<\/p>\n Beacon Lighting\u2019s category has also undergone a dramatic shift. Once a purely functional product, lighting has become a central element of design.<\/p>\n This year, Beacon Lighting celebrated 21 years of supplying lighting for the Channel 9 home renovation show, The Block.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Block has been fabulous for us and for the lighting industry,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cIt shows a different way of looking at lighting as a decorative component, the way that light helps fill out a room and make it look exciting. In the old days, you might have had one globe in the middle of the room. Nowadays it\u2019s a lot more sophisticated.\u201d<\/p>\n Consumers, he noted, now rely heavily on expertise. \u201cYou can research as much [as possible] online, but speaking to someone that\u2019s done it before and you\u2019ve got confidence in them \u2013 that\u2019s priceless. Lighting is complicated, a little bit out of people\u2019s comfort zone, and they really do like to get confirmation of what they\u2019re thinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite his decades of success, Robinson is not one for reckless ambition. His advice to retailers navigating the turbulence of e-commerce, supply chain pressures and sustainability mandates is simple: to build buffers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me a long period of time to work out that you don\u2019t just go for expansion and put all the profits back into expansion,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve actually got to make sure you\u2019ve got adequate cash there, because retail is cyclical, and you go through highs and lows. Consumer confidence does jump around quite a lot, and you never know what\u2019s going to be thrown. The biggest advice is to make sure you always get plenty of cash to be able to ride out the hard times.\u201d<\/p>\n Equally, he insists, product passion must remain at the heart of retail. <\/p>\n \u201cRetailers do a thousand things right every day. You\u2019ve got to be expert in a lot of areas, but you\u2019ve got to be absolutely passionate about one particular area. The part you\u2019re going to be passionate about is your product. You need to know the product inside out.\u201d<\/p>\n From his first store in Prahran to his OAM in 2024 and his LFRA Lifetime Achievement Award, Robinson\u2019s journey reflects not just personal success but an era of transformation in Australian retail.<\/p>\n His career embodies the evolution of large-format retail from obscure beginnings to mainstream power, and the enduring truth that people and culture matter more than size alone.<\/p>\n As Robinson put it: \u201cYou solve the issues on a day-to-day basis through consultation, involvement, empowerment.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Ian Robinson on scaling Beacon to 130 stores, and why caution beats conquest appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.<\/p>\nLessons from abroad<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The rise of large format<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Lighting as design, not just necessity<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Conservatism in an era of disruption<\/strong><\/h3>\n