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The soft drink industry has been the one of the most sustained and growing industry worldwide.
Starting from the one product cola it has widespread to several varieties including fruit juices,
sports drinks, and bottled water etc. Us is the major market and Asia is the another merging
market with the estimated consumption of 5% per annum.

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Typically a soft drink consists of two elements

1]      
 of soft drink syrups which includes (i) Concentrated Producer
(like Coca Cola, PepsiCo) who manufactures the carbonated syrup, handles marketing and
advertisement (ii) Bottlers who are responsible for packaging and canning of the products.
2]  : They are mainly constitutes retailer, supplier who makes the final product
available to the end consumer. The three broad categories of distributors are modern trade or
large chain retailers, the small individual retailers and the indirect channel (wholesalers).


 


 There are four factors on which the profitability of the Softdrink
firm id dependent on
(i) Revenue protection & enhancement: This can be enhanced by significant and effective sales
growth and cost reduction.
(ii) Cost reduction / margin improvement: This can be achieved through EoS (Economics of
Scale), when there are large customers with huge and continuous demand for products.
(iii) Improved asset utilization: Since manufacturing of softdrinks needs high capital investments
for setting up plants, shipping, packaging etc, with large number of orders the factors of
production can be utilized. Also there is moderate asset specificity in this industry so, asset
utilizations becomes more important earn profit.
(iv) Regulatory/ Assurance



  There are several factors which affects the sales of softdrinks. These
includes supply chain system, marketing, brand identity, seasonality in demand, relationship with

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consumer and distributors, competitors variation in geography, demographics and consumer
value proposition(CVP) etc.

In my opinion the one thing which firms can control effectively is the relationship with the
consumers and the distributors. Filling the gaps in the market, conversion of consumer¶s basic
need of µquenching thirst¶ to desire for a particular brand is possible only through effective
marketing and sales. Making consumer satisfied is the primary and long lasting step of building
brand loyalty. Be it the large chain retailers, the small individual retailers or the indirect channel,
they are in contact with the end user. So the major part of sales is affected by their relationship
with the consumer. If a company maintains good relationship with them, it can be the market
leader.

  


  
 Coca Cola has proven its strong market position in
past decades and still is persistent player in the Duopoly competition with PepsiCo. The
continuous competition between the two had led to µCola War¶ throwing out rest players and
grabbing the major pie of the Softdrink Industry.

Coca cola being the first mover has strongly positioned itself in the consumers mind. This was
possible through differentiated and focused marketing strategies. It has marked its significant
global presence through all forms media be it the network television, radio or print. With
advertising personal selling, publicity, sponsoring events, indirect partnership have been also
effectively used. The other strategies which they used are quick adaptability with the changing
lifestyles and needs of consumers, alliance with emerging food chains like McDonalds etc, using
all possible channels of distribution i.e. food stores, convenient stores, fountain, vending
machine and mass merchandisers.

They have organized process of distribution with dealers (bulk, sideload and full service) using
the DSD system. Using the franchisee system they have provided easy accessibility of the
product in almost every part of world. Due to large demand suppliers and distributors have less
bargaining power. 

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There are various measures/ ways given in the article like accounting revenue growth, profit
results, number of new accounts, customer service metrics and account retention, optimizing the
telesales channels, integrating the phone sales function with other operations of the firm,
incentive based selling etc to increase the sales. I think the other way which have not been
mentioned but can be effective in terms of cost and other aspects would be using online
marketing. Using memberships, clubs/ community blogs etc would increase the direct
relationship of consumer with the company. Today¶s era is more youth oriented who likes to
document most of the experience through the community sites (e.g. facebook, twitter etc). If the
company is able to make strong position there it will turn to growth in sales

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