CROSSING POINT

FREMONT, Mich. -- Gerber Products here helps supermarket retailers cross merchandise its own diverse line, as well as related products from other companies.

ss merchandise food and baby care items at the shelf -- for example, spoons or bottles -- with the use of clip strips or special displays.

Gerber also recently cross merchandised its Gerber Graduates baby food with Procter & Gamble's Luvs and Pampers diapers, using coupons and a cardboard frame display that featured the diapers stacked up on either side of the baby food.

The company has also done co-branded direct-mail programs with about a half-dozen supermarkets, using selected portions of its national mailing list. This month, Gerber will launch its first mailing with Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. in the retailer's Memphis, Tenn., division.

Customers will receive a letter from a Kroger store manager and coupons for Gerber baby food, Huggies diapers and wipes and Johnson & Johnson baby lotions and powders, as well as Kroger coupons for $5 off any baby item and $1 off any other store item.