Strangers In The Supermarket.

Three women staring avidly at the shampoo section of my supermarket - one on the phone saying (and I paraphrase),

"They've got all the big brands, with double-facings for each. We've got to find a way to stand out. We were at Tesco's before and it was the same and there's no spare space available for merchandising. It's really difficult to get noticed."

A common complaint amongst FMCG marketers I imagine. Potential solutions....

1) Get the retailer to do something special for your product (difficult and expensive I'd guess since they count coins in the till before unit sales of any specific product).

2) Sell your product through different distribution outlets (where the retailers might care more but where I'd guess the shelves are going to be equally uninspiring).

3) Stand out and get noticed BEFORE you get to the shelves.

And if three of you are on this mission to assess the blindingly obvious, wouldn't it be an idea to leave your marketing-world discussions and chat to some customers while you're there?