Coca-Cola Co. is boosting its soda selling growth varying its package sizes. This week Coca-Cola will announce the launch of12.5-ounce, 89-cent bottles. The retail price on its recently introduced eight-pack of 7.5-ounce Coke ‘mini’ cans in supermarkets will also be attractive and reduce by about 20% to $2.99.
Photo: Mike Esterl/The Wall Street Journal
Last year the company rolled out nationally the 16-ounce, 99-cent bottles as an alternative to 20-ounce bottles in U.S. convenience stores. Previously Coke had three basic packages—20-ounce bottles in convenience stores and two-liter bottles and cases of 12-ounce cans in supermarkets.
The new strategy is taken from Mexico, where bottling partners began diversifying package sizes more than a decade ago to offer more price options in the wake of the 1994 peso devaluation and economic crisis, says the Wall Street Journal. In Mexico, the company’s top market by per-capita consumption, Coke is now sold in more than 30 packages, ranging from 6.75 ounces to three liters.
But there is a tricky marketing approach: although the smaller packages carry lower sticker prices, the consumer pays more per ounce. And Coke is raising prices on larger bottles and cans. However, Coca-Cola is aimed to boost revenue and profits in the U.S.
Americans have been reducing their cola and other sodas consumption for health reasons even before the recession began. In general, U.S. soda volumes have fallen for six years in a row.
The Coke’s rival, PepsiCo, has recently launched 16-ounce bottled sodas to match Coke. It has also produced a 1.5-liter bottle to compete with the 1.25-liter bottle Coke began introducing last year.
But according to Beverage Digest, a trade publication and data service, Coke remains the No.1 with its share of the soda market in U.S. stores rose 1.1 percentage points to 34.3% in the first half of this year, while PepsiCo’s slipped 0.2 percentage point to 32.8%.
New package design is also boosting sales—Coca-Cola has recently introduced the new look of its Diet Coke. And a new PlantBottle eco-packaging has launched in the UK.
Now Coca-Cola is betting the 89-cent price for the 12.5-ounce bottle will be luring more customers. It also expects the stores will increase prices on Coke’s 16- and 20-ounce and one-liter cola bottles to around $1.19, $1.69 and $1.99, respectively. However, consumers will still pay a per-ounce premium. The retail price of the eight pack of 7.5-ounce cans will fall to just below $3, but the smaller cans will cost 37 cents each, the same as 12-ounce cans.
