It's Still the Real Thing: A Profile of the Coca Cola Company

Abstract

In its core competency, the Coca-Company has only one serious competitor, the PepsiCo Company, maker of Pepsi-Cola. Current market share of the two companies in the United States stands at 43.7% for Coca-Cola against 31.6% for PepsiCo. British firm Cadbury Schweppes comes in third in the American market with its 7UP and Dr. Pepper brands but does not have a head to head cola competitor for Coca-Cola. Supermarket private label cola brands are a substitute beverage for the big two but in terms of dollar sales, they do not cut greatly into their market share. According to the Beverage Digest 2001 survey, the top 4 brands continue to be Coke Classic, with a U.S. market share of 19.9%, Pepsi-Cola, with 13.2%, followed by Diet Coke with 8.8% and Mountain Dew (a PepsiCo product) with 6.9%. In recent years, the competition between the top two firms has been vigorous and has been played out for all of us to see on television, in supermarket shelf space, in school lunchrooms and at sports stadiums across the country. One factor driving the intensity of competition between the cola giants has been the flat or declining consumption of carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) in recent years. A changing public taste oriented toward ostensibly lighter and healthier sports drinks, teas, and single serve bottled waters has left the big two scrambling to chip out market share in the increasingly fragmented beverage field.