Opportunities:
Bottled water, currently one of the fastest growing product categories, is an excellent opportunity for Coca-Cola to generate increased sales in the US and abroad. While still a relatively new entrant compared to Pepsi, there exists a significant amount of market share to capitalize on. Sales in South America for soft drink beverages are high, and there is a lot of room for growth, particularly in Mexico and Brazil, where Coca-Cola Zero’s recent debut has been met with acclaim. The market for flavored sparkling beverages grew 9.2% in the last quarter of 2007, evidence that there remains room for expansion within that product segment. The vast goodwill value of Coca-Cola’s trademarked name allow the company to release new products in categories outside of the soft drink sector. This opportunity must be taken advantage of in order to compete with Pepsi, the only other significant competitor with comparable goodwill value. Diet Coke and Coke Zero could see increased sales in the US due to recent trends in sugar consumption and weight awareness. Opportunities also lie in diversifying Coca-Cola’s brand portfolio, and the recent acquisition of the Brazilian tea manufacturer Leao Junior will allow Coca-Cola to target a more health conscious market segment.
Threats:
The most significant existing competitor is Pepsi, a company which offers a slightly differentiated cola at a comparable price. Pepsi, like Coca-Cola, also has a wide variety of other products and subsidiary brands which compete directly with their Coca-Cola counterparts. Pepsi recently released a new product called “Pepsi Raw,” a high end cola which uses pure cane sugar as sweetener. Coke needs to address this issue by releasing a similar high end product in order to compete. Whi ...