OPINION: Brands wise up to retailers' hold on shop shelves

In fact, if you work in fast-moving consumer goods, it could even be your very own chief executive. Procter & Gamble's AG Lafley has been spotted in a Greek department store, for example, eyeing the placing of one of the company's cleaning brands.

This isn't obsessive behaviour on the part of a detail-driven boss.

It's recognition that retailers are setting the brand agenda. An analysis of own-branding in the latest Fortune shows what the magazine calls an 'almost imperceptible tectonic shift' reshaping the world of brands. Retailers, it says, are behaving like fully-fledged marketers.

We in the UK know this already. After all, operating in one of the most concentrated retail markets in the world, UK supermarkets were bound to tap into the goldmine that is own-branding sooner rather than later. In many ways, they have created the template for others.

Which they are doing, particularly in the US. As the article points out, while the development of own-brands has been going on since the 30s, what's different now is that many store brands are being seen as 'real' brands - Wal-Mart's Ol' Roy for example, is the world's leading brand in the dog food sector.

What is troubling for the traditional brand manufacturers - although the distinction is in some ways getting blurred as retailers plough more of their profits into innovation - is predicting how much further this trend can travel. In Europe, for instance, own-brands make up to 40% of products , while in the US it is only 20% so far.

Polls show that consumers are open to being persuaded that own-brands can be as good as the once-unbeatable shelf stalwarts from Unilever, P&G or Nestle - particularly when they have the same sort of loving care lavished on them. What makes it worse, of course, is that the retailers are also the gatekeepers.

How did this become such a living nightmare for the once-supreme big brand owners? Ironically, it stems from the early-70s when an ex-McKinsey consultant, Dave Nichol, was made president of a Canadian supermarket.

He became inspired by retailers across the Atlantic, notably Marks & Spencer, whose successful St Michael brand combined quality with value.

Over the years, he created a raft of own-brands for his chain, constantly improving both the ingredients and presentation. Over time he advised other retailers, including Wal-Mart, whose range of differentiated own-brands now comprises 40% of total sales.

Yet the recent list of Interbrand's annual ranking of the world's 100 most valuable brands includes very few from retailers, with the exception of global travellers such as IKEA and luxury brand Tiffany. Instead, it's packed with the likes of Coca-Cola, Marlboro, Gillette and Kellogg. The prospects for manufacturers' brands are not entirely bleak.

Yes, retailers such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco are crossing borders and could well be on their way to joining the Interbrand list. But consumer goods firms can hold this juggernaut at bay if they constantly reinvent themselves as marketers. It's not just about being big. It's also about being smart. And keeping an eye on the shelves.

This article was first published on Marketing