“MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COCA COLA”

Submitted By

VIVEK SINGH

PGDM

Roll No. 113

Batch: 2013-2015

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Prof. Dr. SUNITA SRIVASTAVA

A PROJECT SUBMITTED under part completion of

PGDM to

Chetana’s Institute of Management & Research

Bandra (East), Mumbai 400 051.

July, 2014

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is my great privilege to acknowledge and remain indebted to the people who by

their rich and varied contribution have helped me in understanding the various aspects

included in my project. The successful completion of the project would be incomplete

without the mention of the people who made it possible.

I would like to thank and express my deep sense of gratitude to my Faculty Guide

Prof. Dr. Sunita Srivastava. I am greatly indebted to her for providing me with her

precious guidance, valuable suggestions, without which it would have not been

possible to complete the project.

I would also like to thank my Project Guide Mr. Manoj Agrawal who in spite of his

busy schedule has co-operated with me continuously and indeed, his valuable

contribution and guidance have been certainly indispensable for my project work.

I would also like to thank all respondents, and the dealers, who spared their valuable

time and enriched me with valuable information.

Last but not the least; I heartily thanks to my colleagues and friends who helped a lot

during project work.

VIVEKSINGH

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TABLE OF CONTENT

1. TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………….01

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………………02

3. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………….04

4. INDUSTRY PROFILE…………………………………………….06

5. COMPANY PROFILE…………………………………………….09

6. PORTER'S FIVE FORCES……………………………………….24

7. PEST ANALYSIS………………………………………………….27

8. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY…………….29

9. REVIEW OF LITERATURE…………………………………….30

10. PRIMARY FINDINGS & ANALYSIS…………………………..55

11. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION……………………..61

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………....62

13. ANNEXURE………………………………………………………63

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INTRODUCTION

This project is focused on studying the various marketing strategies of Coca-Cola and

the scenario of Indian soft drink industry in the 1990’s.

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

(Chakravarty, 43). Because of this Coca-Cola backed and withdrew from the country.

In the mean time, India’s 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. Parle’s 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 Parle’s 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 Parle’s 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.

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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.

Both the companies know that there is so much potential in the Indian soft drink

industry and the can increase their sales by making good marketing strategies. So,

they are spending a huge amount of money on advertising and other sales promotional

activities of their brands.

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SOFT DRINK INDUSTRY: AN OVERVIEW

It all began in 1886, when a tree leged brass kettle in Hohn Styth pemberton’s

backyard in Atlanta was brewing the first P of marketing leged. Unaware the

pharmacist has given birth to a caromel colored syrup, which is now the chief

ingredient of the world’s favorite drink. The syrup combined with carbonated the soft

drink market. It is estimated that this drink is served more than one thousand million

times in a day.

Equally oblivious to the historic value of his actions was Frank Ix. Robinson, his

partner and book keeper. Pemberton & Robinson laid the first foundation of this

beverage when an average nine drinks per day to begin with, upping volumes as sales

grew.

In 1894, this beverage got into bottle, courtesy a candy merchant from Mississippi. By

the 1950’s Colas were daily consumption items, stored in house hold fridges. Soon

were born other non- Cola variants of this product like orange & Lemon.

Now, the soft drink industry has been dominated by three major player – (1) The New

York based Pepsi co. Inc.(2) The Atlanta based Coca Cola co. (3) The United

Kingdom based Cadbury Schweppes.

Throughout the globe these major players have been battling it. Out for a bigger

chunk of the ever-growing cold drink market. Now this battle has begun in India too.

India is now the part of cold drink war. Gone are days of Ramesh Chauhan, India’s

one time Cola king and his bouts of pistol shooting. Expect now to hear the boon of

cannons when the Coca Cola & Pepsi co. battle it out for, as the Jordon goes a bigger

share of throat. By buying over local competition, the two American Cola giants have

cleared up the arena and are packing all their power behind building the Indian

franchisee of their globe girdling brands. The huge amount invested in fracture has

never been seen before. Both players seen an enormous potential in his country where

swigging a carbonated beverage is still considered a treat, virtually a luxury.

Consequently, by world standards India’s per capita consumption of cold drinks as

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going by survey results is rock bottom, less than over Neighbors Pakistan &

Bangladesh, where it is four times as much.

Behind the hype, in an effort invisible to consumer Pepsi pumps in Rs 3000 crores

(1994) to add muscle to its infrastructure in bottling and distribution. This is apart

from money that company’s franchised bottles spend in upgrading their plants all this

has contributed to substantial gains in the market. In Colas, Pepsi is already market

leader and in certain cities like Banaras, Pepsi outlets are on one side & all the other

Colas put together on the other. While Coke executive scruff at Pepsi’s claims as well

as targets, industry observers are of the view that Pepsi has definitely stolen a lot from

its competitor Coke.

Apart from numbers, Pepsi has made qualitative gains. The foremost is its image. This

image turnaround is no small achievements, considering that since it was established

in 1989, taking the hardship route prior to liberalization and weighed down by export

commitments.

Now, at present as there are three major players Coke, Pepsi and Cadbury and there is

stiff competition between first two, both Pepsi and Coke have started, sponsoring

local events and staging frequent consumer promotion campaigns. As the mega event

of this century has started, and the marketers are using this event – world cup football,

cricket events and many more other events.

Like Pepsi, Coke is picking up equity in its bottles to guarantee their financial

support; one side Coke is trying to increase its popularity through.

Eat Food, enjoy Food. Drink only Coca Cola. Eat cricket, sleep cricket. Drink only

Coca Cola. Eat movies, sleep movies. Drink only Coca Cola.

But no doubt’ that UK based Cadbury is also recognizing its presence. So there is a

real crush in the soft drink market. with launch of the carbonated organize drink

Crush, few year ago in Banaras ., the first in a series of a launches , Cadbury

Schweppes beverage India (CSBI) HAS PLANNED:- The world third largest soft

drink marketers all over the country.CSBI o wholly owned subsidiary of the London

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based $ 6.52billion. Cadbury Schweppes is hoping that crush is going well and well

not suffer the same fate as the Rs. 175 crore Cadbury India’s apple drink Apella.

CSBI is now with orange (crush), and Schweppes soda in the market.

As orange drinks are the smallest of non-Cola categories that is Rs. 1100 crore

markets with 10% market share and Cola heaving 50% is followed by Lemon

segment with 25%.

The success of soft drink industry depends upon 4 major factors viz.

Availability

Visibility

Cooling

Range

AVAILABILITY

Availability means the presence of a particular brand at any outlet. If a product is

now available at any outlet and the competitor brand is available, the consumer will

go for the outlet because generally the consumption of any soft drink is an impulse

decision and not predetermined one.

VISIBILITY

Visibility is the presence felt, if any outlet has a particular brand of soft drink say-

Pepsi Cola and this brand is not displayed in the outlet, then its availability is of no

use. The soft drink must be shown off properly and attractively so as to catch the

attention of the consumer immediately Pepsi achieves visibility by providing glow

signboards, hoarding, calendars etc. to the outlets. It also includes various stands to

display Pepsi and other flavors of the company.

COOLING

As the soft drinks are consumed chilled so cooling them plays a vital role in

boosting up the sales. The brand, which is available chilled, gets more sale than the

one which is not, even if it is more preferred one.

RANGE

This is the last but not the least factor, which affects the sale of the products of a

particular company.

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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 it’s 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. The Company

offered its stock to the public on November 21, 1986, at a split-adjusted price of $5.50

a share. 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

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company. They operate in

more than 200 countries & markets more than 2800 beverage products. Headquartered

at Atlanta, Georgia, they employ approximately 90500 employees all over the world.

It is often referred to simply as Coke or (in European and American countries) as Cola

or Pop.

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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 people’s 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

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Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization

Our Winning Culture

Our Winning Culture defines the attitudes and behaviors that will be required of us to

make our 2020 Vision a reality.

Live Our Values

Our values serve as a compass for our actions and describe how we behave in the

world.

Leadership: The courage to shape a better future

Collaboration: Leverage collective genius

Integrity: Be real

Accountability: If it is to be, it’s up to me

Passion: Committed in heart and mind

Diversity: As inclusive as our brands

Quality: What we do, we do well

Focus on the Market

Focus on needs of our consumers, customers and franchise partners

Get out into the market and listen, observe and learn

Possess a world view

Focus on execution in the marketplace every day

Be insatiably curious

Work Smart

Act with urgency

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Remain responsive to change

Have the courage to change course when needed

Remain constructively discontent

Work efficiently

Act like Owners

Be accountable for our actions and in actions

Steward system assets and focus on building value

Reward our people for taking risks and finding better ways to solve problems

Learn from our outcomes -- what worked and what didn’t

Be the Brand

Inspire creativity, passion, optimism and fun

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COCA-COLA WORLDWIDE (BACKGROUND)

The Profile

The Coca-Cola Company is the global Soft drink industry leader, with world

headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The company and its subsidiaries employ nearly

30,000 people around the world Syrups, concentrates and beverages bases for Coca-

Cola, the company’s flagship brand, & over 160 other Company Soft Drink brands

are manufactured and Sold by the Coca Cold Company and its Subsidiaries in nearly

200 countries around the world. In fact approximately 70% of company volume and

80% of company profit come from outside the United States.

By contract with the Coca-Cola Company on its local subsidiaries, local

businesses are authorized to bottle and sell company soft drinks within certain

territorial boundaries and under conditions that ensure the highest standards of quality

and uniformity.

The Coca-Cola takes pride in being a worldwide business that is always local.

Bottling and distribution operations are, with some exception, locally owned and

operated by independent business people who are native to the nations in which they

are located.

The Coca-Cola company stock, with ticker symbol KO2 is listed and traded in

the United States on the New York stock exchange, common stock also is traded on

the on the Boston, Chicago, Pacific an Philadelphia Exchanges Outside the United

States, Company common stock is listed and traded on common and swiss exchanges.

The Company operating management structure consists of five geographic

groups:

1. The North America Group Comprises the United States and Canada.

2. The Latin American group includes the Company’s operations across Central and

South American from Mexico to Argentina.

3. The Company’s most populated operating group, the Middle and far east group,

ranges from the Middle East to India, China, Japan and Australia.

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4. The greater Europe group stretches from Greenland to Russia’s far last, including

some of the most established markets in Western Europe and the rapidly growing

nations of Eastern and Central Europe.

5. The Africa group includes the Company’s business in 50 countries in Sub Sahara

Africa.

The Coca-Cola Company continues to activate sponsorships throughout the

world including associations with World Cup Soccer. The National Football league.

NASCAR, the Tour de France, the Rugby World Cup, COPA America and numerous

local sports teams. The Coca-Cola Company has sponsored the Olympic Games since

1928.

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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 Parle’s 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 tycoons 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.

Basically what was wrong at that time with the Coke proposal was that while

the Pepsi deal could go through under the camouflage of horticultures and agriculture

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development as their proposal stated, a pure soft drinks project was not so politically

palatable (as it would greatly hamper the indigenous industry).

Coke had plans, to invest $ 20 million in India and Pepsi was going to pump in

Rs. 300 crore more. Ramesh Chauhan greatest compulsion, to 90 in for the 2nd

option was that many of his biggest bottlers were preparing to desert him for

Coke, .since the bottlers accounted for nearly one-third of Parle's sales. Parle's

biggest bottles in the Easter region, Goenka, accounted for 80% market share in

Calcutta, felt that the future lay with Coca-Cola, no Indian company had the financial

muscle to take on Coke.

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 world’s 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 Parle’s wide spread

bottling and distribution network, which was spread over more than a thousand towns

and cities and the gradual withdraw of Parle brand would ensure Coke would be the

king. Parle's best known brands include Thumsup, Limca, Citra and others were

GOLD SPOT and Maaza.

The biggest advantage to Parle from the tie-up would be an instant gain of $

40 million, which could be used profitably in other ventures.

According to a report the deal was that, Parle Exports had transferred the

rights of all its reputed soft drinks brands to Coca-Cola Company, USA. In short,

Coca-Cola Company became the exclusive owner of Thumsup, Limca, Gold Spot,

Citra and Maaza and could therefore; withdraw them from the market whenever it

would want to.

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, Ramesh Chauhan sold his soft drink brands of the U.S. Multinational for

($ 40 million) and is presently a major Coke bottler. Delhi - based Parle Chairman

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gave up his ownership of his soft drinks brand (Thumsup, Limca, Citra and Gold

Spot) and was awarded the bottling franchisee for Delhi, Bombay, Surat and

Ahmedabad. Coke depends on the 54 bottling plants which it was inherited from the

Parle by out.

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.

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

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ASSUMPTIONS

Improvements in perceived quality in turn lead to high market share and market

leaders spend to build their franchise.

Companies spend a larger share of their sales income on advertising and tend to be

much more profitable than companies that spend less.

Brands that spend a much larger than average share of their sales on advertising

earn an average return on investment of 32% while brands that advertise much

less than their competitors average only 17%.

Increases in advertising expenditure are closely correlated with gains in master

share (even after adjusting for the effects of other factors).

Sales promotions like price-off, etc. has no significant correlation with market

share changes (only its effect on consumer behaviour is observed).

To some extent companies with high, quality simply have more to say in their

advertising, so they are likely to spend more money saying it.

Market-perceived quality is a more important measure of competitiveness than

market share for 2 bey reasons :

1. Most market leaders had to develop quality leadership to achieve their large

share position superior quality is the base upon which market leadership is

usually built.

2. Generally according to data, businesses that begin with a large share of the

market tend to lose share. By contrast, those that begin with superior quality

tend to hold or gain share.

Therefore, market share is often a lagging indicator of a company's performance;

quality is the clear key to success.

Pepsi is a perfect example; since it came to India in 1989 with a market share

of 0% it now in 1998 enjoys a share of 45.2% in the market.

But in case of soft drink, the 2 Cola giants Pepsi and Coke cannot to a great

extent differentiate on their brands (but of course in terms of taste and fizz), a lot has

to be spent on’ ads, packaging and promotion, i.e., making it more easily available.

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However, recently in the world's famous business magazine, fortune, Coca

Cola was rated as the world's number one brand.

It must be noted that the brand also has to work in different ways from market

to market. A constant check on, brand management techniques, on the promotion of

the brand, in a consistent and robust manner, is essential for the brands future. One

point where Coke scores over Pepsi has been in production and distribution system

internationally and nationally (because of access to Parle's distribution network)

which ensures the product reaches the consumers in perfect condition.

The advertising message that is conveyed to the people in the advertising

slogan "Always the real thing" (1993), is a credible statement about the brand's

virtues. What reinforces this conviction amongst, consumers, apart from the

reassurance provided by the consistent quality of the Coca Cola product, is that

competitive brands all seek to emulate Coca Cola. There is very little attempt on their

part to create a distinctive positioning and personality for their brands. A vast

complex network of production, distribution and marketing has kept the brand in

front.

Coca Cola has entered new markets and also developing market economics

(like India) with much-needed jobs.

Coke attributes its success to bottlers, the Coca Cola system itself, i.e., its

executive committees, employees, BOD, company presidents but above all from the

consumer.

Coke's red colour catches attention easily and also the Diet Coke which it

introduced was taking the Cake, as Pepsi has not come out with this in India.

Ever since Coke's entry in India in 1993, Coke made a comeback (after

quitting in 1977), in October 24 in Agra, the city was flooded by trucks, there

wheelers, tricycle cards-all with huge red Coke-emblazoned umbrellas. Retailers

were displaying their Coke bottles in distinctive racks, also with specially-designed

iceboxes to keep Coke bottles cold. This was one big jolt to Pepsi.

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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 MKT’S MIX

Effective marketing would be blending the marketing mix elements into a

coordinated programme designed to achieve the company’s marketing objective by

delivering value to consumers.

Cola - Cola has always worked upon their marketing mix tools since its entry

into India and Coke’s objective has been to strengthen their brand in important

segments of the market and to gain a competitive edge over Pepsi brands.

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PRODUCTProduct VarietyQualityDesignsFeaturesBrand namePackagingSizesServicesWarrantiesReturns

PRICEList PriceMRPDiscountsAllowancesPay PeriodCR Terms

PROMOTIONAdvertisingPersonal SellingSales PromotionPublic Relation

PLACEChannelsCoverageAssortmentsLocationsTransportationLogistics

TARGETCUSTOMERSINTENDED

POSITIONING

MARKETING MIX OF COKE

a) PRODUCT

Coke was launched in India in Agra, October 24, in '93', soon after its

traditional all Indian launch of its Cola. at the sparking new bottling plants at Hathra,

near Agra. Coke was back with a bang after its exit in 1977.

Coke was planning to launch in next summer the orange drink, Fanta-with the

clear lemon drink, sprite, following later in the year.

Coke already owns more brands than it will over need, since it has bought out

Ramesh Chauhan. Coke just needs to juggle these brands around dextrously to meet

its objectives, to ensure that Pepsi does not gain market share in the process.

For if a vacuum develops, it is Pepsi which has the brand muscle and the

distribution network to grab customers today-not Coke. But Coke could not reduce its

marketing support for Thumsup until its own Cola would hit the four major metros

(Delhi. Bombay, Calcutta and Madras) Therefore, Coke had to give its existing levels

of support for Parle's brands and would push Thumsup and Limca. Coke has plans to'

use quality and hygiene as USPs. Their aim seems to be to expand market by market,

learning from their mistakes.

In, 1998 Coke's product line includes Coca-Cola, Thumsup, Fanta, Gold Spot,

Maaza, Citra, Sprite, Bisleri Club Soda and Diet Coke.

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All India Market Share ‘ 98

Overall 48.3%

Coca-Cola 10.8%

Thumsup 16%

Fanta 5%

Limca 10%

Gold Spot 1.5%

Others 5%

PACKAGING

Coca-Cola India Limited (CCIL) has bottled its Cola drink in different sizes

and different packaging i.e., 200 ml bottle, 300 ml. Bottle, 330 ml. Cans, 500 ml.

Bottle fountain Pepsi, and bottles of 1 and 1.5 ltrs

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PRODUCT POSITIONING

One important thing must be noticed that Thumsup is a strong brand in

western and southern India, while Coca Cola is strong in Northern and Eastern India.

With volumes of Thumsup being low in the capital, there are likely chances of Coca

Cola slashing the prices of Thumsup to Rs. 5 and continue to sell Coca Cola at the

same rate. Analysts feel that this strategy may help Coke since it has 2 Cola brands in

comparison to Pepsi which has just one.

Thumsup accounts for 40% of Coca Cola Company’s turn over, followed by

Coca Cola which has a 23% share and Limca which accounts for 17% of the turnover

of the company. (Thumsup being the local drink, its share in the market is intact,

forcing the company to service the brand, as it did last year Mr. Donald short CEO,

Coca Cola India, said that, " we will be absolutely comfortable if Thumsup is No. 1

brand for us in India in the year 2005. We will sell whatever consumers want us to".

Coca Cola India has positioned Thumsup as a beverage associated with adventure

because of its strong taste and also making it compete with Pepsi as even Pepsi is

associated with adventure, youth.

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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.

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.

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Brand Image / Loyalty

Pepsi and Coke continuously focusing on increasing their biggest beverage and

food products, they has built some of the globe’s 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 customer’s and

strong brand equity throughout the world. In 2011, Coca-Cola was declared the

world’s most valuable brand according to Interbrand’s 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

represent the cultures of different countries. They also sponsor different games and

teams and also featured in countlesstelevision 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 bottler’s that have

privileges in all over the world. These franchise agreements or contracts forbid

bottler’s from keeping competitor’s brands. Coke has the world's largest beverage

distribution network; consuming in more than 200 countries enjoys the Coke’s

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 globe’s 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.    

25

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 retailer’s to carry their products.

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. Pepsi

promotes and support sustainable agriculture not only because it makes good business

sense, it purchase million tons of potatoes and fruits.

Threat of Substitute Products

Large numbers of substitutes are available in the market such as water, tea, juices

coffee etc. But firms counter them with innovative marketing and massive advertising

which build growth for their brands by highlighting their benefits. Players also

differentiate themselves by well-known global trade marks, brand equity and

availability of the products which most of the substitute products can not contest.   To

protect themselves from competition players in soft drink industry offer Diversify

products such as such as Pepsi offers soft drinks (Pepsi, Slice, Mountain Dew),

26

beverages (Tropicana Juices, Dole Juices, Lipton tea, Aquafina bottled water, Sport

drinks, Tropicana Juices), Snacks (Rold Gold pretzels and Frito-Lay). Coke also

offers most diversified range of products such as Cola-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola

Vanilla, Diet Coke, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola and range of

lime or coffee and lemon.

Competitive Rivalry within an Industry 

Beverage industry competition can be classified as a Duopoly with Pepsi and Coca

Cola. The market share of other competitors is too low to encourage any price wars.

Cola-Cola gets competitive advantage through the well-known global trade marks by

achieving the premium prices. It means Cola-Cola have something that their

competitors do not have. While Pepsi has leveraged its worldwide brand-building

strength to attach with consumers in significant ways and impel the growth globally

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 Cola’s 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 Cola’s 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

27

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 diseases. As a result, Coca Cola’s 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.

28

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

1. To study the marketing strategies adopted by Coca-Cola

2. To study the advertising effectiveness Coca-Cola on customer

3. To analyze the awareness of consumer regarding Coca Cola.

4. To help the company for further changes in the quality, pricing, and policies.

Research design

The Research available is descriptive so as to describe the complete qualities of juices

available in market.

Sources of Data collection

To do a research always we use two sources of data collection. Primary and secondry

Primary Source:

It is the source which collects the primary data through Questionnaire and record the

raw data for further analysis, Primary source is used by the face-to-face survey with

the customers of the company.

Secondary Source:

Secondary source is the internet, magazines, and old data files of the research.

Sampling Technique

The sampling technique which has been used in this research is simple Random

sampling. This has been used in order to simplify the process of sample collection and

to use our own wisdom and parameters in relation to selection of sample.

Sample size: 50

Sample Area: Mumbai

29

LITERATURE REVIEW

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. So, although thirst is what is

needed to be satisfied and that is the core benefit, we are receiving other benefits in

the taste and size. Coca-Cola has developed several different flavors and sizes as

mentioned above, but also several brands such as Sprite, Lift, Fanta and Diet Coke

which increase the product line length, thus making full use of the market to

maximize sales.

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.

30

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,

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.

The markets where Coke is a dominant player are United States of America, Europe

and Asia, Africa. There is a vast difference in terms of above given phases for

example, in U.S.A & Europe it has reached maturity stage where it can’t expand its

market more but if we consider Asia, it is still in the growth phase.

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

31

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.

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.

32

COCA-COLA

Throughout the years Coca-Cola has made many pricing decisions but one might say

that their ultimate goal has always been to maximize shareholder value. As Cola

consumption has decreased in the US Colas have come to realize the untapped

international market. In 2003 both Coke and Pepsi had a solid presence in India and

had each introduced a 300mL bottle. In order to grab market share Pepsi began to

drop prices (even with summer approaching, which was contrary to policy in

America). Shortly thereafter, Coca-Cola decided to drop their prices slightly, but

focused on the reduced price point of their 200mL container. Coca- Cola planned to

use the lower price point to penetrate new cities that were especially price sensitive.

The carbonated soft drink market in India is nearly 37% of the total beverage market

there.

This low price strategy was not unfamiliar to Coca-Cola. Both Coke & Pepsi utilized

a low price strategy in the early 1990s. After annihilating the low price store brands,

Coke chose to reposition itself as a "Premium" brand and then raise prices.

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.

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.

33

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 company’s 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.

The Coke Company operates three primary delivery systems for its business channels:

Bulk delivery for the channels of large Supermarkets, Mass Merchandisers

and Club stores;

For smaller channels Coke does advanced sale delivery for convenience

stores, drug stores, small supermarkets and on-premise fountain accounts.

Full service delivery for its full service vending customers.

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

PROMOTION STRATEGIES

34

GETTING SHELVES

They get or purchase shelves in big departmental stores and display their products in

that shelves in that style which show their product more clear and more attractive for

the consumers.

EYE CATCHING POSITION

Salesman of the Coca Cola company positions their freezers and their products in eye-

catching positions. Normally they keep their freezers near the entrance of the stores.

SALE PROMOTION

Company also do sponsorships with different college and school’s 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.

35

FACILITATING THE PRODUCT BY INFRASTRUCTURE

For providing their product in good manner company has provided infrastructure

these includes:

Vizi cooler

Freezers

Display racks

Free empty bottles and shells for bottles

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

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.

COMPARING THE MARKETING STRATEGIES OF COKE

WITH PEPSI

36

Coca-Cola India and Pepsi India are locked in a bitter battle for market share.

So far Pepsi has won, outselling Coke 27.1% to 10.8% (All India Market Share) But

Coke's new strategy adopted in India which gives Thumsup the local brand it acquired

in 1993-94 from Parle exports - top marketing priority which would hurt Pepsi in the

long run.

COKE'S STRATEGIC MOVE SINCE 1993

Four years after it entered the Rs. 1,800 crore Indian soft drinks market, Coca-

Cola is finally waking up to reality and duplicating the strategy of arch rival Pepsi. In

these four years the company has successfully managed to fritter away the 69 per cent

market share of -the five Parle brands -- Thumsup, Limca, Citra, Gold Spot and

Maaza -- which it bought from the Chauhan brothers. Wrong strategy: trying to push

only its US brand, ignoring the Indian-acquired brands and failing to strike a chord

with Indian consumers by not using localised advertising campaigns.

Donald Short, CEO of Coca Cola India. Mr. Short is trying to achieve what

his predecessors, Jaydev Raja and Richard P. Nicholas Ill, could not. His new

mantra: do in India as Pepsi does ( as the famous saying at Coke Atlanta, do as the

Atlantans do). Like Pepsi, Coke has started sponsoring local events and staging

frequent consumer promotion campaigns. It has started picking up equity stakes in its

bottlers to guarantee them financial support though its bullying tactics on paying

compensation have drawn sharp criticism. It has finally started releasing locally-

created ads, using Indian idiom to strike a chord with consumers. And finally it has

started pushing its strike a chord with consumers. And finally it has started pushing

its Indian brands -- led by Thumsup -instead of focusing on only its flagship.

After years of eating, sleeping and drinking movies, cricket and Coke, Coca-

Cola is finally waking up to the strength of the local brands that it took over from

Ramesh Chauhan in 1994. When Coca-Cola came to, India it had hoped to continue

its legendary rivalry with Pepsi world-wide and it was expected that the India would

fade out. So Coca-Cola pushed its own brand. But somebody forgot to narrate the

same script to Indian consumers who insisted that they wanted their thunder back.

Coca-Cola has now reconciled to the fact that Thumsup and Limca are the two most

popular soft drink brands in India, especially in the western and southern regions.

37

Keeping this in mind the company has lined up an aggressive marketing campaign to

push the two brands in the domestic market.

Mr. Short's new strategy, Thumsup contributes 40 per cent of Coca-Cola

India’s turnover while Limca accounts for another 17 per cent. Coke itself accounts

for 23 per cent. The balance comes from Coke's other brands, including Fanta. Citra

and Maaza. In terms of all-India market share. Thumsup has 16 per cent whereas

Coke has 10.8 per cent. As much as 30 per cent to 35 per cent of Coca-Cola India’s

expenditure in 1998 will be devoted to promoting Thumsup. Limca will command 15

per cent to 18 per cent, marginally lower than the 20 per cent to 25 per cent which

will be spent on promoting Coke.

Despite being a global brand, Pepsi has built its success on meeting the Indian

consumer's needs, particularly in terms of making the brand synchronize with

localized events and traditions. By offering free Pepsi with idli it tried to beat

Thumsup and Coke in the south. In Calcutta, where Coke always has a large hold,

Pepsi linked itself with neighbourhood cricket tournaments. In Delhi it associated

itself with Holi and offered free colour sachets with Pepsi bottles. Says Mr. Sinha,

CEO of Pepsi: “We recruited local salesmen to sell our products since to sell

consumer products you need local experience.” That is why Pepsi's events such as the

Spot the Miranda Man contest was such a huge success.

By contrast, Coke deliberately chose to bring in expatriates. Instead of trying

to create a bond with customers with low impact activities it resorted to high impact

activities like sponsoring the World Cup and the Olympics 'in 1996. But

unfortunately none of these helped it to raise its customer base despite the high

advertising spends. In fact Pepsi benefited more by releasing the “Nothing Official

about It” campaign during the same period. While Pepsi's market share rose from 24

per cent to 26.50 per cent in just two months after the World Cup, Coke's increased

from 12 per cent to just 12.5 per cent.

Coke's lack of freedom to take any decision independently of its Atlanta

headquarters was also one of the major reasons why it has not been as nimble-footed

as Pepsi in evolving marketing strategy in a rapidly changing industry. Flexibility is

the weapon which Coca-Cola has lacked since all controls are vested with Atlanta.

Coke's trade promotions have followed a predictable pattern, offering fat margins to

38

retailers for a limited period of time -- without exploring alternatives that raise the

level of involvement for the seller as well as the consumer.

In sharp contrast, flexibility has always been one of the most important

weapons in the hands of Pepsi Company India. Every manager and salesperson has

the authority to take whatever steps he or she feels will make consumers aware of the

brand and increase its consumption.

Says Mr. Sinha: “AII we do is give people a budget in which they have to

work. How they go about is completely up to them. We are performance oriented

and look at only results, not at the methods adopted to get those results.”

The biggest thorn in Coke's strategy has been its long and bitter battle with its

bottlers. The conflicts have finally settled down to a pattern that reflects its global

experience. Coca-Cola India is floating two subsidiaries, Bharat Coca-Cola and

Hindustan Coca-Cola which will act as holding companies for most of its bottling

operations. Thus giving the transnational ownership and control over this crucial part

of its operations. Earlier the company had made the mistake of demanding huge

investments from its bottlers without worrying about the returns, assuming that they

would be willing to sustain losses as long as Coca-Cola did. In the process, it

alienated the former Parle franchisees, the Chauhan.

According to Mr. Chauhan there is a big difference between the kind of

investments Coke has in mind and the kind of investments made by him. Coca-Cola

is now in the process of buying out bottling plants located in Patna and Kanpur, to of

its important northern markets. Mr. Sinha reveals his relations with the bottlers by

saying that they are his partners and the management listens to them, which Coke last

year failed to do. Every member of Pepsi's sales team is meticulously taught the

merchandising and display skills that can leverage the reach of the company's bottling

network to achieve high visibility for the product. Thus Pepsi Company India has

used its eight years in India to develop a relationship with its bottlers that enables it to

work in tandem with them. If Mr. Short can now adopt Pepsi's method of transferring

the transnational's expertise to its bottlers, his brands will benefit.

Pricing is another factor in which Pepsi has always had the edge. Pepsi has

consistently used its pricing strategy as an invitation to sample, aiming to turn trial

into addiction. It launched the 1996, its 1.5 litre bottle followed Coke into the market

39

share at Rs. 30 -- Rs. 5 less than Coke's. In both cases, Pepsi raised the price once

consumption stabilized, counting on habit to compensate for the price hike. Coke

initially carbon-copied the strategy by introducing its 330ml. cans in January 1996 at

an invitation price of Rs. 15 before raising it to Rs. 18. Mr. Short is now using a

lower-priced smaller-sized version the gain consumers. The 200 ml. Coke launched

(so far) in parts of eastern, western and northern India is priced at Rs. 6, lowering

entry-barriers.

According to officials, by launching Thumsup and Limca in a big way, Coke

will gain lost ground. The twin-brand strategy will help Coke play the pricing game

against its competitors. In the west and east, where Thumsup has a dominant market

share, the multinational will slash the price of Coke which constitutes only a minor

share in the overall volume. A reverse strategy will be followed in the north and

south where Coke sells more than Thumsup.

40

All India Market Shares

(1998)

41

COCA - COLAOverall

48.3% Thums ups

16% Coke

10.8% Fanta 5% Limca 10% Gold Spot

PEPSI-COLAOverall

45.2% Pepsi

27.1% Mirinda 7.3% Others

10.8%(7 Up. Mangola,

CADBURY SCHWEPPES

Overall 3.2% All brands

3.2%(Crush, Canada, Dry, Campa-Cola, Campa Orange, Campa Lemon)

STRATEGIES FOR GAINING MARKET SHARE

Strategy When Use How apply in Market

Place

Cost-Implications

1. Price To gain share in a

product line (a) where

there is room for

growth: (b) in

launching a new

product, preferably in

a growth market.

A. Set general market

price level below

average (“catch share

generally strategy)

B. Lower prices at

specific target

customer accounts

where reduced prices

will capture high

volume accounts and

where competition in

vulnerable on a price

basis : lower prices

enough to keep the

business

C. Lower Prices

against specific

competitions who will

not or cannot react

effectively.

Will lower gross

margin by decrease-

sing spread between

cost and price for a

period of time.

Will lower cost as

cumulative volume

increases and costs

move down the

experience curve.

2. New

Product

When a new product

need (cost or

performance) can be

uncovered and a new

product will (a)

displace existing

products on a cost or

performance basis. Or

A. Develop and launch

the new product

(Generally )

B. T

Target specific

customers and market

segments where the

42

(b) expand the market

for a class of product

by tapping previously

unsatisfied demand.

need for the product is

strongest and

competition most

vulnerable and

immediate large gains

in share can be

obtained.

3. Service To gain share for

specified product lines

when competitive

service levels do meet

customer

requirements.

A. Improve service

generally beyond

competitive levels by

increasing capacity for

specified product lines.

B. Target specific

accounts where

improved service will

gain share and the

need for superior

service is high

C. Offer additional

services required in

general or at specific

customers-

information,

engineering advice,

etc.

D. Expand distribution

system by adding more

distribution points.

Cost of adding

capacity and/or

bolstering service

systems.

Cost of expanding

the distribution

system, including

additional inventories

required.

4. Quality

/strength

of

When a market

segment or specific

customers are getting

A. Add salesmen or

sales representatives to

improve call frequency

Salary and overhead

cost of additional

salesman or

43

marketin

g

inadequate sales force

coverage (too few

calls/month) or inferior

quality or coverage

(poor salesmen or

insufficient

information conveyed

by salesmen)

above competitive

levels in target

territories or at target

accounts.

B. Sales training

programs to improve

existing sales skills,

product knowledge,

and territorial and

customer management

abilities.

C. Sales incentive

program with rewards

based on share

increases at target

customers or in target

market of products.

representatives

Cost of training for

retraining

Cost of incentive

program

5.

Advertisi

ng and

sales pro-

motion

a) When a market

segment or specific

inadequate exposure to

product, service, or

price benefits

compared to

competition (b) A

change in the benefits

offered is made and

needs to be

communicated.

A. Select appropriate

media to reach target

customer groups.

B. Set level and

frequency of exposure

of target customers

high enough to create

adequate awareness of

benefits and counter

level of competitive

efforts.

Cost of creative work

to create campaign.

Production and

media costs

44

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 brand-loyal 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. While

the major focus of our discussion is on brand loyalty as behaviour, we want to

emphasize that cognitive processes strongly influence the development and

maintenance of this behaviour.

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.

The market for a particular brand could be analyzed in terms of the number of

consumers in each category, and strategies could be developed to enhance brand

loyalty of particular groups.

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.

45

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 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

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. Depending on the location of

46

Brand Loyalty

Brand - loyal,Heavy users

Brand-Loyal,Light Users

Light Usage

Brand-Indifferent,

Brand-Indifferent,

Heavy Usage

Brand Indifference

consumers and whether they are loyal to the firm's brand or a competitive one, several

strategies might be useful;

1. If the only profitable segment is the brand-loyal heavy user, focus on

switching consumer loyalty to the firm's brands.

2. If there is a sufficient number of brand-loyal light users, focus on increasing

their usage of the firm's brand.

3. If there are a sufficient number of brand-indifferent heavy users, attempt to

make the firm's brand name a salient attribute and/or develop a new relative

advantage.

4. If there is a sufficient number of brand-indifferent light users, attempt to make

the firm's brand name a salient attribute and increase usage of the firm's brand

among consumers, perhaps by finding a sustainable relative advantage.

5. It is also important to plot consumers of competitive brands to develop

appropriate strategies. If a single competitor dominates the brand-loyal heavy-

user market and has too much market power to be overcome, then strategies

may have to be focused on other markets.

47

COCA-COLA Vs PEPSI IN INDIA

Coca-Cola controlled the Indian market until 1977, when the Janta Party beat

the Congress party of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. To punish Coca-Cola's

Principal bottler, a Congress party stalwart and long live Gandhi supporter, the Janta

government demanded that Coca-Cola transfer in syrup formulae to an Indian

subsidiary (Chakravarty, 43). Coca-Cola backed and withdrew from the country.

India, now left without both Coca-Cola and Pepsi, became a protected market. In the

meantime, India's two target soft drink producers have gotten rich and lazy while

controlling 80% of the Indian market. These domestic producers have little incentive

to expand their plants or develop the country's potentially enormous market. Some

analyst reason that the Indian market may be more lucrative that the Chinese market,

India has 850 million potential customers, 150 millions of whom comprise the middle

class, with disposable income to spend on Cars, VCRs and Computers. The Indian

middle class is growing at 10% per year, to obtain the license for India, Pepsi had to

export $5 of locally made products for every $1 of materials it imported, and it had to

agree to help the Indian government to initiate a second agricultural revolution. Pepsi

has also had to take Indian partners. In the end, all Parties involved seem to come out

ahead. Pepsi gain access to potentially enormous market, Indian bottlers will get to

serve a market that is expanding rapidly because of competition from abroad and will

pay lower prices. Even before the first bottle of Pepsi hit the shelves, local soft drink

manufacturer increased the size of their bottles by 25% without raising costs.

COCA-COLA INDIA TO HARDSELL ALL BRANDS

The CEO's business card is printed in English in one side and in the national

language, Hindi on the other; he talks of two of India's established soft drink brands

as "national treasurers". He launches a brand of canned coffee for the Japanese

market - not for sale is India - and call it the "third national treasure", because the

coffee beans are sourced from India and that it would generate substantial foreign

exchange for the country.

Blowing the pipe on this discovery of Indian treasures is President & Chief

Executive officer, Mr. Donald Wilson Short of Coca-Cola India (CCI), who is trying

to project the new patriotic face of the Coca Cola Company in India. A query on how

48

much of this sudden change of face has to do with the attitude of the present

Government towards MNCs is met with a diplomatic. Mr. Short says I have always

been proud of India and have been open about it to the media". But the bottom line is

that the company has little choice, to save the option of leaning on `India treasures',

Thumps up and Limca.

Mr. Short says that though in the first quarter of this year advertising rupee

spent on drink Thumps up. He claims that in second quarters, it will be reverse, as

more money would be spent on promotion of Thumpsup. The latest white water

rafting ad for Thumps up has costed them three times more than the cost of the Coke

ad".

The marketing boost for Thumps up has its basis in the fact that Thumpsup

accounts for nearly 40 per cent of CCIs, soft drink sales while Coke accounts for 25

per cent and the rest is accounted for by the other brands of Limca, Fanta, Citra and

Maaza.

Also forthcoming are a few details of the target consumers of the respective

brands, Thumps up is a male drink, Coke goes down equally with both genders,

Limca act Citra are more for women, Fanta is a youth drink and Maaza is for those

who do not always go for the fizzy carbonated drinks.

Demographically, speaking, Citra is virtually non-existent up north whereas in

South India, Citra has a good market. Thumps up is strong in the east and down

south, Mr. Short justifies the limited progress of Coke and Fanta saying that the share

of business from these two brands is low because it is not available in half of India.

So the immediate task is to increase the search of the two core brands, Coke and Fanta

to nearly three-fourth of the country.

Also in line with competition soft drinks market dynamics are huge ad

budgets, the difference this time around would be that CCI is pumping money into all

its brands, New advertising for Citra is due while Maaza would be pushed

aggressively too. Thumps up, Coke and Fanta are already getting due attention, one

could perhaps say that the real Cola war with focussed marketing is in the making, not

just between the Colas Coke and Pepsi, but between the other brands of the two

companies as well. Mirinda Vs Fanta, Limca Vs Team, Citra Vs 7up, Slice vs

Maaza.

49

Coca-Cola India is about to sign a deal with Prakash Chauhan: New Delhi,

Nov 20th. Coca-Cola India may sign a deal with Prakash Chauhan within next 2-3

weeks for acquiring his two bottling units in Mumbai, of the units, Prakash Chauhan

owns one jointly with his brother, Ramesh, and the other he owns exclusively it is

expected that Prakash will buy out Ramesh Chauhan stake in the jointly owned

bottling unit before handing it over to the Cola giant.

Prakash Chauhan confirmed that the deal with Coca-Cola India would be

signed shortly. "Earlier we were not part of the deal that was being negotiated

between Ramesh Chauhan and the Cola firm. We have now sorted out the

outstanding issues, and the two Mumbai bottling limits would be sold to Coca-Cola,

said sources. They did not specify the price of the deal between Prakash Chauhan and

Coca-Cola India.

With the important Delhi and Mumbai bottling units. Owned by the Chauhan

in its bag, Coca-Cola India will find it easy to persuade the remaining bottlers to sell

out to it. The Cola firm has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ramesh

Chauhan to acquire his Delhi bottling units in September.

In early '96', both Coca Cola India and Pepsi Foods India launched high

decibel promotions aimed at increasing the visibility of their respective brands. Coca

Cola kicked off the current round in December '95', after it pipped Pepsi to bag the

status of official soft drink to the wills World Cup by offering Rs. 13 crore. Coke's

slogan then had been 'The official drinks', Pepsi then came out with theirs - 'Nothing

official about it'.

Coke had bought up Parle’s business, including the Thumsup. Gold Spot and

Citra brands, for $40 million - the company's overall market share has dropped from

60% to 56%. Coca Coia's loss has proved to be Pepsi's gain, whose brands improved

from 30% to 41% in the same period (see table). Coca-Cola's problems don't end

there. In the Cola segment - which constitutes more than half the total soft drinks

market - Pepsi has dislodged, Thumsup from the top spot, and now has a 40% market

share. The former Parle brand still retains 30%, but flagship Coke comes in a poor

third, with only a 20% market share.

Other former Parle brands have also taken a beating. Cloudy lime drink

Limca, which commanded a 20% share of the total soft drinks market in 1993. has

50

seen its market share drop to 16% today. And Gold Spot, though still the leader in the

orange segment has lost most of fizz, with a mere 4.5% share of the soft drinks

market, compared to around 9% in 1993. Besides the promotions Coca Cola has

finally planned to launch The Real Thing in cans. Priced at Rs. 15, the 330ml. cans

were slated to hit the market by mid '96. There rival Pepsi had set aside nearly Rs. 8

crore for his advertising programme in the run-up to and during the World Cup.

While this being only a fraction of the Coca Cola budget.

Coca Cola had spent Rs. 26.99 crore on television sports in the first nine

months of 1995. Coca Cola has earmarked Rs. 40 crore to promote the brands in the

run-up to World Cup. Meanwhile Pepsi spent a piffling Rs. 6.98 crore on television

ads during this period.

The apparent failure of marketing strategies of Coke was reflected in a survey

conduct by Marketing & Research Group in September 1995 for the Delhi based

advertising and marketing magazine, A & M on the country's best marketing

companies. Pepsi ranked 7th. While Coca Cola came in 13.

While both Coke and Pepsi slug it out for larger shares of the soft drinks

market, apparently the market itself is growing pretty steadily. Per capita annual

consumption of soft drinks has risen to 3.5 servings today, as against 3 servings in

1993 when Coke was relaunched.

A third competitor Cadbury Schweppes, its Orange drink, Crush was

confined to Delhi and Mumbai and now is planning to expand operations nationwide

by the summer of 1996.

All Figures in % Market Share

Coca Cola 60 65 56

Pepsi 30 33 41

Others 10 2 3

Years 1993 1994 1995

51

The table signifies the fact that Coke's market share has slipped down from

60% in '93' to 56% in '95', while Pepsi, owing to its aggressive marketing strategy and

advertising campaigns, has done well, as it has climbed up from 30% in '93' to 41 %

in '95'.

The following diagram depicts the cold war between the 2 Cola giants and

shows which one out of the 3 (i.e., Coke, Pepsi and Thumsup) is the strongest brand

and in which region.

The results have shown that Thumsup is preferred over Pepsi in major soft

drinks markets including Calcutta and in major cities of Maharashtra and Andhra

Pradesh.

The brand tracking study covering Coke, Pepsi and Thumsup had taken into

account a combination of performance indicators, like advertising persuasiveness,

brand preference and purchase intent, apart from retail audits that are there to measure

the case stock in retail outlets.

While advertising persuasiveness measured the ability of the commercials to

make the consumers buy the brands at the next consumption brand preference

indicated toe choice over other existing brands. Purchase intent measured the

likelihood of purchase of each brand at the next consumption occasion.

A survey of a sample of 6000 consumers in 14 major Indian cities was

conducted and the results compiled in the middle of January.

While Delhi was a Pepsi stronghold, Calcutta was Thumsup's and Punjab,

India’s largest soft drink market, had Coke ruling the roost with a lead of 15 per cent.

With an investment of $740 million over the next 10 years in India, Coca Cola

India is giving a major thrust to the campaign for Thumsup with the new dynamic

advertising showing adventure sports like bungee-and heli-jumping.

Colas contribute to about 50 per cent of the Rs. 1,800 crore soft drink market.

The popularity of Thumsup is showing in its volume of sales and it has been proved

that there is room for more to feed the hungry soft drinks market.

52

The following is about the region-wise growth pattern of Pepsi and Coke in

the year '98'.

Pepsi had out performed Atlanta-based soft drink major Coca Cola in

the country by emerging the leader in the first quarter growth sweepstakes. Pepsi had

announced a growth of over 27 per cent during the first quarter against 21 per cent

posted by Coca Cola in the first three months of the year. Pepsi grew by 18 per cent

in the same period last year.

53

SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT Analysis of Soft Drink Industry in relation to Coke

Strengths

Carbonated soft drink growth 10-15%

Estimated PCC to increase to 6-8

bottles

Weaknesses

Weak infrastructure (exp. Cooling)

Small retailers, less shelf space

Heavy excise duty (40%), recently

have come down a little

Cans have to be imported at high duty

rates.

Problems of empty bottles

Opportunities

Low PCC as compared to

neighbouring countries

Growing rural market internecine

competition

Rising disposable income

Changing consumer trends due to

satellite TV.

Threats

Political risks

Coke and Pepsi indulging in

54

PRIMARY FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Have you ever tried the product (Coca-Cola)?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

yes no

Out of the 30 people we surveyed, all of them said they had tried Coca-Cola atleast

once. This explains the brand awareness of Coca-Cola.

Gender

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

male female

55

Out of the 30 respondents, there were 18 men & 12 women.

Age groups

0 5 10 15

no. of people

below 10 yrs

10-19 yrs

20-35 yrs

36-50 yrs

51 & above

Age Groups

As represented in the chart, majority of the respondents were in the age group of 20-

35 years, the least of the lot being 2 kids who were also asked to participate in the

survey.

Do you enjoy the product (Coca-Cola)?

yes77%

no23%

56

From the analysis, it was found that majority of 77% (23 people) respondents said

they enjoyed drinking Coca-Cola as against 23% (7 people) who said they preferred

other drinks.

What brand would you say is more popular among the public?

a) Coca-Cola

b) Pepsi

c) Other

Coca-Cola56%

Pepsi37%

Others7%

As seen in the chart, out of 30 people, 17 respondents said, in their opinion, Coca-

Cola was more popular while 11 respondents said they preferred Pepsi as a popular

brand.

Do you enjoy Coca-Cola’s advertisements on TV?

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

I really like them

they are good but nothing special

not bad

I don’t like them

57

The chart represents that a majority of people thought the Advertisements were good

enough & they like what they see.

Do you think the price for a can of Coca Cola is cheap or expensive?

0 5 10 15 20 25

cheap

slightlyoverpriced

expensive

As seen in the above figure, a majority of 23 people out of the 30 respondents thought

that the Coca-Cola Cans are slightly overpriced with a few people also rating it as

expensive.

If you were to see the Coca-Cola logo somewhere would you recognize it?

yes100%

no0%0%0%

58

It is understood from the fact that the Logo of the Company still has its image in the

minds of the people with all the respondents saying they would recognize the “Coca-

Cola” Logo.

How often do you buy the product?

0 5 10 15

never

once/few times in a year

few times in a month

few times in a week

everyday

As it can be seen in the figure, it was concluded that majority of the respondents

bought the product quite frequently. This shows the brand loyalty of the customers

towards Coca-Cola.

Where do you buy Coca-Cola products the most?

0 5 10 15 20

super markets

general stores

Restaurants

59

As seen in the above chart, customers usually preferred to buy Coca-Cola in

restaurants like KFC, Mc Donald’s, Sub-Way etc. The second largest option was

General stores stocking Coca-Cola.

60

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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.

61

RECOMMENDATIONS

After completing our project I have concluded some recommendation for the Coca

Cola Company, which is following.

Coca Cola Company should try to emphasis more on providing their

infrastructure in the market to facilitate their customers.

According to the survey, conducted by the international firm Pakistani people

like little bit sweeter Cola drink. So for this Coca Cola company should

produce their product according to the local demand.

Marketing team should try to increase the availability of Coke in rural areas.

They should also focus the old people.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography refers to the sources through which information has been retrieved in

my project development:

Books & Magazines:

Marketing Management By (Philip Kotler)

Economic Times

Annual Report of coca-Cola company.

Websites:

http://www.google.com\

http://www.coca-Colaindia.com\

http://www.altavista.com\

62

ANNEXURE

1. Have you ever tried the product (Coca-Cola)?

a) Yes

b) No

2. Gender

a) Male

b) Female

3. How old are you?

a) Below 10

b) 10-19

c) 20-35

d) 36-50

e) 51 & Above

4. Do you enjoy the product?

a) Yes

b) No

c) It's not bad

5. What brand would you say is more popular among the public?

d) Coca-Cola

e) Pepsi

f) Other

63

6. Do you enjoy Coca Colas advertisements on TV?

a) I really like them

b) They good but nothing special

c) Not bad

d) I don't enjoy them

7. Do you think the price for a can of Coca Cola is cheap or expensive?

a) Cheap

b) Slightly over priced

c) Expensive

8. If you were to see the Coca Cola logo somewhere would you recognize it?

a) Yes

b) No

9. How often do you buy the product?

a) Never

b) Once/few times a year

c) Few times a month

d) Few times a week

e) Everyday

10. Where do you buy Coca-Cola products the most?

a) Super Markets

b) General stores

c) Restaurants (McDonald's, Subway, KFC etc)

64

65