Luxury Brands Should Embrace Minimalism

Show empty space on product shelves and branding assets.

Overview

Research shows that minimalism is effective for luxury brands.

Store Shelves

Only show a few products on shelves.

Luxury products are more appealing with limited supply because these products seem more exclusive (Barton, Zlatevska, & Oppewal, 2022).

Plus, products appear more valuable when surrounded by empty space (Sevilla & Townsend, 2016).

In-Store Customers

Crowded stores weaken the exclusivity of luxury brands. In one study, participants believed that shoes were more expensive in less crowded stores (O’Guinn Tanner, & Maeng, 2015).

Participants estimated the price of shoes across different store photos. $253 for a store with a few customers, $193 for a store with an average number of customers, and $166 for a store with many customers

A follow-up study showed that customers were willing to spend more too.

Interestingly, empty space also influences the social class of fellow shoppers. Participants estimated the income levels for stick figures, either spacious or dense. Spacious figures seemed like higher earners:

Spacious stick figures with an estimated income of $123,000, and densely packed figures with an estimated income of $64,000

Padding in Interfaces

Luxury brands surround their online products with plenty of padding:

A luxury website with products surrounded by gray space

Rolex maintains padding around their copy.

Plenty of space on the sides of paragraphs in a luxury website

Barton, B., Zlatevska, N., & Oppewal, H. (2022). Scarcity tactics in marketing: A meta-analysis of product scarcity effects on consumer purchase intentions. Journal of Retailing, 98(4), 741-758.
O’Guinn, T. C., Tanner, R. J., & Maeng, A. (2015). Turning to space: Social density, social class, and the value of things in stores. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(2), 196-213.
Sevilla, J., & Townsend, C. (2016). The space-to-product ratio effect: How interstitial space influences product aesthetic appeal, store perceptions, and product preference. Journal of Marketing Research, 53(5), 665-681.