PROJECT REPORT

On

MARKETING STRATEGIES
OF COCA COLA

Submitted By
Name: -BHAIRI SRIKANTH JANARDHAN
ROLL NO 11

RAGIV GANDHI COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

GHANSOLI

INTRODUCTION
Coca-Cola Co., the global soft drink industry leader controlled Indian soft drink
industry till 1977. Then Janta Party beats the Congress Party and the Central Government
was changed. This change brought problems for Coca-Cola principle bottler, who was a big
supporter of Gandhi Family. Now Janta Party government demanded that Coca-Cola should
transfer its syrup formula to an India subsidiary. Because of this Coca-Cola backed and
withdrew from the country. In the mean time, Indias two target soft drink producers have
gotten rich. Who were controlling 80% of the Indian soft drink industry.
In 1993, the coco-Cola company came back to India. But the scenario of Indian soft
drink industry had been changed from 1977 to 1993. The competition in the soft drink
industry had become very tough. The major competitor at that time was Pepsi and Parle.
Parles best known brands include ThumsUp, Limca, Citra and others were Gold Spot and
Maaza. At that time Parle had a market share of 53% and Pepsi had a market share of 20%.
Now Coca-Cola had to make some strategies to survive in this tough competition.
For this Coca-Cola decided to take over Parle, so that the company can take the advantage
of Parles network. This decision was proved very beneficial for Coke as it had ready access
to over 2,00,000 retailer outlets and 60 bottlers of Parles network.
The marketing strategies which were made by Coca-Cola Company to win the Cola
war in 1990s had been very successful as Coca-Cola Company had a total market share of
48.3% in 1998.
So, the Indian soft drink industry saw a dramatic change in the decade of 1990s. All
the companies were trying to win the battle by making good marketing strategies. These
days Coke and Pepsi are using the 4Ps of marketing mix (Price, Product, Place and
Promotion) in such a way so that a good quality can be provided to the consumers at a
reasonable price to attract the consumers towards their brands.

COMPANY PROFILE
Coca-Cola Enterprises, established in 1886, is a young company by the standards of
the Coca-Cola system. Yet each of its franchises has a strong heritage in the traditions of
Coca-Cola that is the foundation for this Company. The Coca-Cola Company traces its
beginning to 1886, when an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John Pemberton, began to produce
Coca-Cola syrup for sale in fountain drinks. However the bottling business began in 1899
when two Chattanooga businessmen, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead,
secured the exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola for most of the United States from
The Coca-Cola Company.
The Coca-Cola bottling system continued to operate as independent, local
businesses until the early 1980s when bottling franchises began to consolidate. In 1986, The
Coca-Cola Company merged some of its company-owned operations with two large
ownership groups that were for sale, the John T. Lupton franchises and BCI Holding
Corporation's bottling holdings, to form Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. On an annual basis,
total unit case sales were 880,000 in 1986.
In December 1991, a merger between Coca-Cola Enterprises and the Johnston
Coca-Cola Bottling Group, Inc. (Johnston) created a larger, stronger Company, again
helping accelerate bottler consolidation. As part of the merger, the senior management team
of Johnston assumed responsibility for managing the Company, and began a dramatic,
successful restructuring in 1992.Unit case sales had climbed to 1.4 billion, and total
revenues were $5 billion

MISSION, VISION AND VALUES

The world is changing all around us. To continue to thrive as a business over the next ten
years and beyond, we must look ahead, understand the trends and forces that will shape our
business in the future and move swiftly to prepare for what's to come. We must get ready
for tomorrow today. That's what our 2020 Vision is all about. It creates a long-term
destination for our business and provides us with a "Road map" for winning together with
our bottling partners.
Our Mission
Our Road map starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a
Company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions.

To refresh the world...

To inspire moments of optimism and happiness...

To create value and make a difference

Our Vision
Our vision serves as the framework for our Road map and guides every aspect of our
business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving
sustainable, quality growth.

People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can
be

Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate
and satisfy peoples desires and needs

Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create

mutual, enduring value

Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support
sustainable communities

Profit: Maximize long-term return to share owners while being mindful of our
overall responsibilities.
4

COKE IN INDIA
Coke gained an early advantage over Pepsi since it took over Parle in 1994. Thus it
had ready access to over 2,00,000 retailer outlets and 60 bottlers.
Thus Coke had greater than Pepsi because it had ready access to the Parle network.
For example in 1994 Pepsi had 20 bottlers to serve the entire country while Coke had
Parles 60 bottlers. In an important market like Delhi Pepsi had just one bottler while Coke
had four. On the other hand Pepsi had taken over the Dukes Mangola of Mumbai.
In 1993, Pepsi Foods Ltd. had control over the Rs. 1,100 - Crore Indian Soft Drinks
market. At that time, the soft drinks trycoon Ramesh Chauhan, was heading the Parle
group and at that time was deciding to explore the possibility of selling his best rolling
brands to Coke, rather than to Pepsi. Pepsi had entered the market 3 years before Coke did.
Before the Coke-Parle tie-up in '93- Ramesh Chauhan had 2 options before him- (1) to stick
around, fight it out again and hopefully, continue with his number one position. (2) To sell
out to Coca-Cola for a good return. This risk of losing out to one of the multinationals,
eventually, seemed to be throwing up the second alternative.

Ramesh Chauhan told

business world (India's most popular business magazine) that "it is better to seek a
compromise than to fight a lone battle". But he was wisely simultaneously taking steps to
safeguard his market share. In a few months, Parle's products will be launched in 250 ml
instead the current 200 ml. The indications are that the company will hold the price line.
Incidentally, both Pepsi and Coke (if it finally gets in) will cost more than local brands
because of the 300% duly on the imported ingredients. However, this scenario was taking
place pre-liberalization period and hence implied a very high duty on imported items.
Entry of Pepsi and Coke in India or their proposals were at that time being opposed
because of the impact of first - strike on the minds of consumers. If Coca-Cola is allowed
an easy and quick entry through a window established by the government, there can be no
justification for denying similar access to Pepsi Co.
Also, there was the most convincing factor for the tie-up, that Parle's Position in the
Indian soft drinks market and Coca-Cola's marketing strengths and experience would make
an unbeatable combination. At that time according to the worlds most popular and well
known magazine, Fortune, had rated Coke as the world's best brand. Even Coke would
greatly benefit from the tie-up, as Coke with Parles wide spread bottling and distribution
network, which was spread over more than a thousand towns and cities and the gradual
5

withdraw of Parle brand would ensure Coke would be the king. Parle's best known brands
include Thums Up, Limca, Citra and others were GOLD SPOT and Maaza.
Under the agreement, the existing bottlers of Parle Exports would continue to
produce Parle brands under the licence from the Coca-Cola Company.

The U.S.

Multinational proposed to introduce its international brands -Coke, Fanta and Sprite at an
appropriate time. The Parle bottlers will be bottling these Coco - Cola brands also. The
exact nature of Parle, Coca-Cola tie-up is given below:
So, logically all brands of Parle as well as Coca-Cola will be marketed together. The only
problem being that Parle bottlers would not be able to meet the peculiar quality
requirements of Coke.
MARKET SHARES IN % FIGURES (2012-13)
Pure Drink s; 10%
Othe rs ; 4%
Pe ps i; 26%

Cok e + Parle; 60%

Model of Brand Selection

Customer buys on value

Value equals quality relative to price

Quality includes all non-price attributes that count in the purchase decision

Product

Customer service

Quality, price and value, are not absolute, but relative to competitors.
Quality

Product

Value

Customer Service
Price
6

MARKETING MIX

WHAT IS A MARKETING MIX?

It is a set of controllable tactical marketing tools - product, price, place & promotion
- that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market.

THE FOUR PS OF THE MKTS MIX

PRODUCT
Product Variety
Quality
Designs
Features
Brand name
Packaging
Sizes
Services
Warranties
Returns

TARGET
CUSTOMERS
INTENDED
POSITIONING

PRICE
List Price
MRP
Discounts
Allowances
Pay Period
CR Terms

PLACE
Channels
Coverage
Assortments
Locations
Transportation
Logistics

PROMOTION
Advertising
Personal Selling
Sales Promotion
Public Relation

Effective marketing would be blending the marketing mix elements into a

coordinated programme designed to achieve the companys marketing objective by
delivering value to consumers.

Cola - Cola has always worked upon their marketing mix tools since its entry into
India and Cokes objective has been to strengthen their brand in important segments of the
market and to gain a competitive edge over Pepsi brands.
7

MARKETING MIX OF COCA-COLA

Firstly, we will look at how Coca-Cola has used their marketing mix. The marketing mix is
divided up into 4 parts; product, price, promotions and place.
1. Product:
The product (Coca-Cola soft drink) includes not just the liquid inside but also the
packaging. On the product-service continuum we see that a soft drink provides little
service, apart from the convenience.

Soft drinks satisfy the need of thirst. However,

people are always different, some want more and others want less. Therefore Coca-Cola
has made allowances for that by providing many sizes. We also have particular tastes, and
again they have provided several options.
The product is convenient, that is - bought frequently, immediately, and with a
minimum of comparison and buying effort. The appearance of the product is eye catching
with the bright red colour. It has a uniquely designed bottle shape that fits in your hand
better, and creates a nicer & more futuristic look.
The quality of the soft drink is needed to be regularly high. Sealed caps ensure that
none of the "fizz" is lost. The bottles are light, with flexible packaging, so they won't crack
or leak, and are not too heavy to casually walk around with. The cans are also light and
safe.
The product range of Coca-Cola includes:

Coca-Cola,

Coca-Cola classic,

caffeine free Coca-Cola,

diet Coke

caffeine free diet Coke,

diet Coke with lemon

Vanilla Coke,

diet Vanilla Coke,

Cherry Coke,

diet Cherry Coke,

9

Fanta brand soft drinks,

Sprite,

diet Sprite

Sprite Remix

Product Lifecycle of Coke:

Product life cycle has four phases
1. Introduction
2. Growth
3. Maturity
4. Decline.
Coca-Cola is currently going through the maturity stage in Western countries. This
maturity stage lasts longer than all other stages. Management has to pay special attention to
products during this stage of the product life-cycle. During the maturity stage, products
usually go through a slowdown in sales growth. According to Coca-Cola's 2001 annual
report, sales have increased by 1.02% compared to last year. This percentage has no
comparison to the high level of growth Coca-Cola enjoyed during its growth stage. To add a
little variation Coca-Cola took the Coca-Cola Classic and added variations to it, including
Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke and Diet Coke. Also Coca-Cola went from 6-oz. glass bottles to
8-oz. cans to plastic liter bottles, all helping increase consumption.
COCA-COLA

10

2. Price:
Like any company who has successfully endured a century of existence, Coca- Cola has
had to remain tremendously fluent with their pricing strategy. They have had the privilege
of a worthy competitor constantly driving them to be smarter, faster, and better. A quote
from Pepsi Co's CEO "The more successful they are, the sharper we have to be. If the
Coca-Cola Company didn't exist, we'd pray for someone to invent them." states it simply.
The relationship between Coca-Cola & Pepsi is a healthy one that each corporation has
learned to appreciate.
Coca-Cola products would appear, on the shelf, to have the most expensive range of
soft drinks common to supermarkets, at almost double the cost of no name brands. This
can be for several reasons apart from just to cover the extra costs of promotions, for which
no name brands do without. It creates consumer perceptions and values. When people buy
Coca-Cola they are not just buying the beverage but also the image that goes with it,
therefore to have the price higher reiterates the fact that the product is of a better quality
than the rest and that the consumer is not cheap. This is known as value-based pricing and
is used by many other industries in attracting consumers.
In India, the average income of a rural worker is Rs.500 a month. Coca Cola launched a
200 ml bottle for just Rs.5, an affordable amount on the pockets of the rural audience.
3. Place:
Coca-Cola entered foreign markets in various ways. The most common modes of entry
are direct exporting, licensing and franchising.
11

Besides beverages and their special syrups, Coca-Cola also directly exports its merchandise
to overseas distributors and companies. Other than exporting, the company markets
internationally by licensing bottlers around the world and supplying them with the syrup
needed to produce the product.
There are different types of franchising. The type that is used by Coca-Cola
Company is manufacturer-sponsored wholesaler franchise system. It is very comparable to
licensing but the only difference is that the finished products are sold to the retailers in local
market.
Coca Cola has managed their companys marketing and sales strategy within
channels. Have you ever considered the significance of the Coke vending machine to the
success and profitability of the Coca Cola Company? This channel is direct to consumer
and vending machines often have little to no competition and no trade or price promotions.
Key Channel Listing

Supermarkets

Convenience Stores

Fast Food

Petroleum Retailers

Chain Drug Stores

Hotels/Motels/Resorts

Mass Merchandisers

U.S. DOD Military Resale retail commands: AAFES, NAVRESSO and DECA

Vending

4. Promotion strategies
EYE CATCHING POSITION
Salesman of the Coca Cola Company positions their freezers and their products in eyecatching positions. Normally they keep their freezers near the entrance of the stores.
12

SALE PROMOTION
Company also do sponsorships with different college and schools cafes and sponsors their
sports events and other extra curriculum activities for getting market share.
UTC SCHEME
UTC mean under the crown scheme, Coca Cola often do this type of scheme and they offer
very handy prizes in it. Like once they offer bicycles, caps, TV sets, cash prizes etc. This
scheme is very much popular among children.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Coca Cola Company makes two types of selling
1. Direct selling
2. Indirect selling
Direct Selling: -In direct selling they supply their products in shops by using their own
transports. They have almost 450 vehicles to supply their bottles. In this type of selling
company have more profit margin.
Indirect Selling: - They have their whole sellers and agencies to cover all area. Because it
is very difficult for them to cover all area of Pakistan by their own so they have so many
whole sellers and agencies to assure their customers for availability of Coca Cola products.
ADVERTISEMENT
Coca Cola Company use different mediums

Print media

Pos material

TV commercial

Billboards and holdings

PRINT MEDIA
They often use print media for advertisement. They have a separate department for print
media.
POS Material

13

Pos material mean point of sale material this includes: posters and stickers display in the
stores and in different areas.
TV COMMERCIALS
As everybody know that TV is a most common entertaining medium so TV commercials is
one of the most attractive way of doing advertisement. So Coca Cola Company does regular
TV commercials on different channels.
BILLBOARDS AND HOLDINGS
Coca Cola is very much conscious about their billboards and holdings. They have so many
sites in different locations for their billboards.

PORTER'S FIVE FORCES MODEL OF COCA COLA

BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS

Most of the ingredients needed for beverages and snacks are basic commodities such as
potatoes, flavor, color, caffeine sugar, packaging etc. So the producers of these commodities
have no bargaining power over the pricing for this reason; the suppliers in this industry are
weak.
Bargaining Power of Buyers: -Buyers in this industry have the bargaining power, because
main source of the revenue and market share in beverage and food industry are fast food
fountain, convenience stores food stores vending etc. The profit margins in each of these
segments noticeably demonstrate the buyer power and how special buyers pay diverse
prices based on their power to bargain.

14

Threat of New Entrant: -There are many factors that make it hard for new player to
enter the beverage industry some of important factors are brand image and loyalty,
advertising

expense, bottling network,

retail

distribution

fear

of

retaliation

and

global supply chain.

Brand Image / Loyalty: -Pepsi and Coke continuously focusing on increasing their
biggest beverage and food products, they have built some of the globes strongest brands
that are loved by consumers throughout the world. Innovative Marketing has leveraged
their worldwide brand-building strength to attach with consumers in significant ways and
impel the growth globally. These all campaign results in higher amount of loyal customers
and strong brand equity throughout the world. In 2011, Coca-Cola was declared the worlds
most valuable brand according to Interbrands best global brand. This makes it
impossible for new entrance to enter the beverage industry easily.
Advertising Spend: -Cock and Pepsi has very effective advertising campaign, their
advertising also represents the cultures of different countries. They also sponsor different
games and teams and also featured in countless television programs and films. The
marketing and advertising expense was approximately $ 15 billion. This makes landscape
very harder for new players to succeed.
Bottling Network: -Pepsi and Coca Cola have live and exclusive contracts with bottlers
that have privileges in all over the world. These franchise agreements or contracts forbid
bottlers from keeping competitors brands. Coke has the world's largest beverage
distribution network; consuming in more than 200 countries enjoys the Cokes beverages at
an average of nearly 1.6 billion servings a day. Coca-Cola is sold in restaurants, vending
machine and stores in more than 200 countries. PepsiCo has adopted the globes most
powerful go-to-market systems, serving more than 10 million outlets a week by operating
greater than 100,000 different routes, and producing more than $300 million in retail sales
per day. They have also purchased some of the bottlers, this makes difficult for new players
to get bottler contracts or to build their bottling plants.
Retail Distribution: - Coke and Pepsi offers 16 to 21 percent margins to retailers for the
space they present. These margins are substantial for retailers and this makes it very hard
for the new player to persuade retailers to carry their products.

15

Fear of Retaliation: - It is very difficult for new player to enter in this industry because;
they will be highly retaliating by local players in local markets and in global scenario they
have to face the duopoly of Coke and Pepsi. This ultimately could result in price war which
affects the new player.
Global Supply Chain: - Cock Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and nonprofit Techno
Serve initiated a partnership to facilitate more than 50,000 small fruit farmers in Kenya
Uganda to increase their productivity and double their incomes by 2014. Coke has
significant opportunities within global supply chain to encourage and develop more
sustainable practices to benefit consumers, customers and suppliers. While; it is still in the
premature stages of exploring these opportunities and dedicated to the economic vitality
and health of the farming communities our supply chain engages.

PEST ANALYSIS OF COCA COLA COMPANY

As the leading beverages company in the world, Coca Cola almost monopolizes the entire
carbonated beverages segment. Beside it, Coca Cola also maintain their reputation as the
leading company in the world using PEST Analysis so that Coca Cola can examine the
macro-environment of Coca Colas operations.
Political
When Coca Cola had decided to enter a country to distribute the products; Coca Cola was
monitoring the policies and regulations of each country. For the example, when entering
Moslems country such as Indonesia or Malaysia, Coca Cola followed the regulation by
adding Halal stamp in each Coca Colas products. In this case, Coca Cola has no political
issues in this matter.
Economic
Coca Cola also has low growth in the market for carbonated beverages (North America).
The market growth was 1% in 2004. For stimulating the growth, Coca Cola had spent high
budget of advertisement to endorse the customers.
Social
Nowadays, customers tend to change their lifestyle. Customers more aware about health
consciousness by reducing in drinking carbonated beverages to prevent diabetes or other
16

diseases. As a result, Coca Colas demand for carbonated beverages has decreased and the
revenues also decreased. Thus, Coca Cola diversify the products by adding production lines
in tea (Nestea), juices (Minute Maid), mineral water (Dasani and Ades), and sport drinks
(Powerade), and others.
Technological
Because of the developing technology, Coca Cola has advanced technology in producing
the products. Then, Coca Cola made innovations by giving flavors to the Coke, such as
Cherry Coke, Diet Coke, Coca Cola Zero, Coke with Lime, and others. But, the customers
still prefer the original taste of traditional Coke; it can be seen by the high demands in
traditional Coke.

STRATEGIES FOR GAINING MARKET SHARE

Strategy

When Use

How apply in Market Cost-Implications

Place

1. Price

To gain share in a A. Set general market

Will
product line (a) where price
there

is

growth:
launching

room
(b)

level

lower

gross

below margin by decrease-

for average (catch share sing spread between

in generally strategy)

cost and price for a

new B. Lower prices at period of time.

product, preferably in specific
target
Will lower cost as
a growth market.
customer
accounts cumulative
volume
where reduced prices increases and costs
will

capture

high move
down
volume accounts and experience curve.
where competition in
vulnerable on a price
basis : lower prices
enough to keep the
business
C.

Lower

against

Prices
specific

competitions who will

17

the

not

or

cannot

rect

effectively.
2.

New When a new product A. Develop and launch

Product

need

(cost

or the

new

product

performance) can be (Generally )

uncovered and a new B. T
product
will
(a)
Arget
specific
displace
existing
customers and market
products on a cost or
segments where the
performance basis. or
need for the product is
(b) expand the market
strongest
and
for a class of product
competition
most
by tapping previously
vulnerable
and
unsatisfied demand.
immediate large gains
in

share

can

be

obtained.
3. Service To

gain

share

for A.

Improve

specified product lines generally

when

service
Cost

of

beyond capacity

competitive competitive levels by bolstering

adding
and/or
service

service levels do meet increasing capacity for systems.

customer
requirements.

specified product lines.

Cost of expanding the
B. Target specific distribution
system,
accounts
where including
additional
improved service will inventories required.
gain share and the
need

for

superior

service is high
C.

Offer

services

additional
required

in

general or at specific
customers18

information,
engineering

advice,

etc.
D. Expand distribution
system by adding more
distribution points.
market A. Add salesmen or
Salary and overhead

4. Quality When

/strength

segment

or

of

additional

of

customers are getting improve call frequency salesman

or

marketin

inadequate sales force above

coverage

specific sales representatives to cost

(too

competitive representatives

target
Cost of training for
calls/month) or inferior territories or at target
retraining
quality or coverage accounts.
Cost
of
incentive
(poor salesmen or B.
Sales
training
program
insufficient
programs to improve
information conveyed existing sales skills,
by salesmen)

few levels

in

product
and

knowledge,

territorial

and

customer management
abilities.
C.

Sales

incentive

program with rewards

based

on

increases

at

share
target

customers or in target
market of products.
5.

a) When a market A. Select appropriate

Cost of creative work

Advertisi

segment

ng

or

specific media to reach target to create campaign.

and inadequate exposure to customer groups.

sales pro- product,

motion

price
compared

Production and media

or B. Set level and
costs
benefits frequency of exposure
to

service,

19

competition

(b)

A of

target

customers

change in the benefits high enough to create

offered is made and adequate awareness of
needs

to

communicated.

be benefits and counter

level of competitive
efforts.

20

BRAND LOYALTY
From a marketing strategy viewpoint, brand loyalty is a very important concept.
Particularly in today's low-growth and highly competitive market-place, retaining brandloyal customers is critical for survival; and it is often a more efficient strategy than
attracting new customers. Indeed, it is estimated that it costs the average company six
times more to attract a new customer than to hold a current one. Brand loyalty is often
thought of as an internal commitment to purchase and repurchase a particular brand. As a
behaviour phenomenon brand loyalty is simply repeat purchase behaviour.
Both cognitive and behaviour approaches to studying brand loyalty have value. We
define brand loyalty as repeat purchase intentions and behaviours.
Brand loyalty may be the result of extensive cognitive activity and decision making.
Brand-loyal behaviour may occur without the consumer ever comparing alternative brands.
Decisions have to be made about where and when to purchase the product; some
knowledge of the product and its availability must be activated from memory; intentions to
purchase ft and satisfaction influence the purchase behaviours.
i)

Undivided brand loyalty is, of course, an ideal.

In some cases,

consumers may purchase only a single brand and forego purchase if it is not
available.
ii)

Brand loyalty with an occasional Swatch is likely to be more common,

though. Consumers may switch occasionally for a variety of reasons: their usual
brand may be out of stock, a new brand may come on the market and tried once, a
competitive brand is offered at a special low price, or a different brand is purchased
for a special occasion.

iii)

Brand-loyalty switches are a competitive goal in low-growth or

declining markets. However, switching loyalty from one to another of the brands of
the same firm can be advantageous.

iv)

Divided brand loyalty refers to consistent purchase of two or more

brands.

v)

Brand indifference refers to purchases with no apparent repurchase

pattern. This is the opposite extreme from undivided brand loyalty. While we

21

suspect total brand indifference is not common, some consumers of some products
may exhibit this pattern.
Developing a high degree of brand loyalty among consumers is an important goal of
marketing strategy. Yet the rate of usage by various consumers cannot be ignored. For
simplicity, we have divided the dimensions into four categories of consumers rather than
consider each dimension as a continuum.
Brand Loyalty and Usage Rate
Brand Loyalty
Brand-Loyal,
Light Users

Brand - loyal,
Heavy users

Light Usage

Heavy Usage
BrandIndifferent,

BrandIndifferent,

Brand
Indifference

The above figure shows that achieving brand-loyal consumers is most valuable
when the consumers are also heavy users. This figure could also be used as a strategic toot
by plotting consumers of both the firm's brands and competitive brands on the basis of
brand loyalty and usage rates.

22

SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT Analysis of Soft Drink Industry in relation to Coke
Weaknesses

Strengths

Weak infrastructure (esp. Cooling)

Carbonated soft drink growth 10-15%

Estimated PCC to increase to 6-8

Small retailers, less shelf space

bottles

Heavy excise duty (40%), recently

have come down a little

Cans have to be imported at high duty

rates.

Opportunities

Low

PCC

Threats
as

compared

to

neighbouring countries

Growing

rural

Problems of empty bottles

market

internecine

competition

Rising disposable income

Changing consumer trends due to

satellite TV.

23

Political risks
Coke and Pepsi indulging in

CONCLUSION
It was observed that Coca-Cola has been perceived quite positively as it has been
projected. People are aware of the Brand & Awareness of Coca-Cola is quite high in the
market. When a product is launched, avid Coke drinkers choose this soda over any other
competitor simply because it's a Coca-Cola product and they trust it.
Although Coke has been into controversies, people still prefer to stay loyal to the
Brand with Coca-Cola being termed as a more popular brand than Pepsi.
Coca-Cola products would appear, on the shelf, to have the most expensive range of
soft drinks common to supermarkets, at almost double the cost of no name brands. This
can be for several reasons apart from just to cover the extra costs of promotions, for which
no name brands do without. When people buy Coca-Cola they are not just buying the
beverage but also the image that goes with it, therefore to have the price higher reiterates
the fact that the product is of a better quality than the rest and that the consumer is not
cheap.
In supermarkets and convenience stores Coca-Cola has their own fridge which
contains only their products. There is little personal selling, but that is made up for in
public relations and corporate image. Coca-Cola sponsors a lot of events including sports
and recreational activities.

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