Market Size

The beverage industry in Pakistan has emerged as a progressive sector over the
years. As per the latest report by AAJ TV, about 170 units are operating across
the country in this particular sector, which is contributing towards growth in
upstream and downstream industries. A comprehensive categorization of the
beverage industry would include divisions like; aerated drinks, juices, milk based
drinks, energy and sports drinks, tea, and coffee and also, bottled and bulk water
as well. In Pakistan different players dominate in different categories, based upon
their specialization and target audience.
Talking alone for the soft drinks industry it has seen huge numbers reaching up to
3 billion liters of production in 2015. Pepsi holding the major share in this sector
with a staggering 60% with Coca Cola following up with 35%. Doing a
comparative analysis of the beverage industry it has been found out that the
number one beverage that was chosen by people was tea followed by soft
drinks. A staggering 130 million people are beverage consumers of which 98
million people are soft drinks consumers.
Energy drinks are ranked as the least consumed beverage. Energy drinks are
known to contain legal stimulants which could bolster brain activity of an
individual. Contemporary times have intensified work schedules and have
heightened stress to such an extent that people at times, have to resort to such
tactics, like drinking energy drinks, rather than taking proper rest and sleep. In
Pakistan, the trend is still not prevalent to such an extreme extent. However, this
gives a wide opportunity for other players to enter into this untapped segment. As
discussed before other segment of isotonic or sports drinks have been left
completely untapped, because of which Aqua Bolt decided to enter into this
segment and target the consumer of this huge industry.
The beverage industry in Pakistan has a lot of potential and room for growth and
development. It is one of the few sectors that have shown measurable growth
and the incremental augmentation in consumption is more likely to continue in
future as well and will certainly benefit in the long run. Also, flourishing
consumerism and establishment of stronger brands with innovative and superior
products has contributed towards the beverage industrys growth. There exist a
lot of opportunities for new entrants and local players to exploit the untapped
facets of the market, for instance the energy drink market or juices, by
strategically positioning their products and by resorting to innovative and effective
marketing strategies. Coffee business remains largely unexploited as well, which
is dominated by one brand only. Therefore, new entrants can penetrate any of
these segments which have nascent demand or few competitors.

However, there do exist certain serious threats to this industry as well. According
to a recent report on Pakistani Food and Beverage Industry, dated January 20th
2014, the two primary threats to this industry are; political instability and
continuous militant activity, which have the tendency to obstruct foreign direct
investment in this industry. Never the less, the report further emphasized that
Pakistan remains one of the most potentially profitable markets . Another major
hazard is the increasing inflation rate, which was reportedly 9.20% in December
2013, which ultimately translates into depreciated purchasing power of the
household which could lower consumption of certain drinks.
Based upon the aforementioned facts, on can conclude that the beverage
industry is Pakistan has gained momentum and is more likely to continue the
growth in coming years as well. Although, certain macroeconomics factors
certainly do have the potential to corrode this industrys profitability.