It is only when you stop to look at a crowded shelf for five seconds that you will see how busy it actually is. What you initially saw was a huge amount of product but not very much direction. Your eye can see items next to one another but no idea what is a price label and what is a product shape. The most colorful item on a shelf may not be the most desired item. A shelf that is full of product is not necessarily full of direction.
In the beginning, a crowded shelf may not feel like a problem because you believe you need as many products on the shelf as you can fit. The reason for this is you have enough product to show and display. But for the shopper to know what you are showing and displaying, they first need to identify product in a display so the next step is for the shopper to decide to buy your product.
Here is a tip: if you look at a product placement on a shelf and you remove about a third of the product and then look at the result from a standing height at a normal viewing distance. You will then be able to see the first product on the shelf you look for if you didn’t already know what it is. If it is easier for the eye to read the result of the display after removing products it was not the products on the shelf that was the problem it was how much product there was to be seen on the shelf.
The purpose of the negative space you just created is to make the display easier to read. It is also to create a better product grouping which means giving the products on the shelf a defined edge. A product on a shelf does not have to have a label on it to be a product, it could be a color, a shape, or a size. There are many different ways to give a product edge and make the product on a shelf more obvious. It may not always be necessary to give the product space on the left and right, maybe a product edge on one side will be all the space it needs.
Negative space is not just empty space that is not being used. A space left next to a product that has a negative space will give the product an identity and make it look like a product that was placed on the shelf with a purpose. Negative space between one product and another that has a product edge can make the products belong to different category, group, color, shape, or size. Without space to define different product edges the shelf will be all one color, shape, or size and the shopper will have a harder time identifying what they are looking for on that shelf.
A product display can also be overcrowded by the products being put together too closely. Whether it is product that belongs in the skincare section, accessories, folded product, or even boxed product, a display will be more easily seen if the space between the products on the shelf allows the shopper to see each section. A student may have placed the product correctly by color but forgot that the products on the shelf need to have a rhythm. There may be only three pieces of a product in a pale color on the shelf or it could be a pale color but no more than three pieces together in a group, the more pieces placed together the more the display becomes difficult to see. The product on the shelf needs to have an edge that is seen by the shopper even if that edge is the small gap of negative space between two products.
Sometimes a product on a shelf can become even more confusing and difficult to see when signs and labels are on the shelf and they become part of a larger problem of product overcrowding. Signs and labels can also become crowded and cluttered when they are placed next to products without space between them or they may even sit at an angle to the shelf. When a shelf already has many small details it will make a new label or sign on that shelf become even harder to see. Sometimes it is better not to add a label to a shelf when you may already be adding a clutter to that shelf.
A good indication that your shelf is less crowded is not when it looks less full of product but instead when the eye is able to start where it was placed on the shelf and follow the eye where the products on the shelf can easily be seen. This may include products on a shelf with signs and labels as long as the label can be seen without it becoming another puzzle piece to be deciphered on a shelf. When you look at a shelf that has been crowded together, do not just move it to a new place. Try and reduce the amount of product until you find the right amount. Then step back and look from your usual viewing distance and decide what is still needed on the shelf.