MM - 1

Marketing Mix
Carbonated Drinks
Section A Group 1
Ankit Bansal M016-14 | Apurv Gupta M021-14 | Avneet Pal Singh M02214
Girija Joshi M030-14 | Pranav Patil M043-14

The soft drinks industry is Rs.14000 crore industry in India. The broad
bifurcation can be made as cola and non-cola based drinks. The lemonbased drinks enjoy a greater market share than cola-based drinks, with
the remaining being occupied by orange-flavoured and other drinks.
In this project, we shall study the marketing mix for five major brands
belonging to soft drinks industry, namely Coke, Pepsi, Sprite and Fanta.
1. Product
Under the product heading, we shall be describing each of the brands
comparatively on the following parameters:

Customers expectation
Product differentiation
Packaging
Market share

In terms of customers expectations, Pepsi and Coke are found to be

preferred because they belong to the classic drinks category. Thumbs
Up, which is high on caffeine is preferred for consuming along with
alcoholic drinks. While Sprite, a simple non-cola drink, is the ultimate
thirst-quencher, Fanta serves as a respite from regular flavours in a
good way.
Each brand survives in the market only because of its distinguishing
characteristics. Pepsi and Coke are ubiquitously available across the

market. This obviously boosts up their sales. ThumsUp has always been
depicted as an adults drink and that fetches it a good market. People
started opting for sprite as a change from these regular drinks, and by
now Sprite has been able to capture most of the market. Fantas
orange-flavour is its biggest differentiator.
Packaging for all the brands is more or less the same available in
plastic and glass bottles, cans of different capacities and family packs.
2. Price
These soft drinks are introduced in new markets at lower prices, so that
it becomes easy to penetrate them. Hence these prices are sensitive
subject to market, the competition existing in that market, threats from
other beverages there etc.
Although direct discounts are rare, offers on family packs, or combo
offers at eateries are common, that give an added impetus to the sales
figures.
Hybrid channels that imply how cold drinks are available at all big fast
food chains as combination offers can be studied to look for the
incentives that companies offer these drinks.
Retailers enjoy significant margins of 15-20% on these soft drinks for
the shelf space they offer. These margins are quite significant for their
bottom-line
3. Place
In this part of the marketing mix, we will focus on the distribution
channels and logistics of the soft drink products and industry. The
distribution channels are categorized as the ones being used in
Distribution channels in urban areas
For the Urban Areas 3 types of distribution systems are being
used- Direct Store Distribution, Broker Warehouse Distribution

and Vending & Food Service System.

Distribution channels rural areas
The hub-and-spokes model is being used by the Soft Drink
companies to penetrate the rural India Market. We shall examine

the

advantages

and

disadvantages

of

this

model.

Poor

connectivity of roads and transportation problems in rural places

pose a problem for sales and distribution
The hub and spoke model is extensively implemented by Pepsi and
Location of the company owned and franchisee owned bottling plants,
Distribution centers and retail outlets across India. We will try to
showcase the huge coverage area of these cold drink companies in
India.
4. Promotion
Promotion of a product becomes an integral part of its marketing
strategy. Several kinds or styles of marketing are adopted for the same
as mentioned below.

Regular on-pack promotions.

Special promotions in festive season.

Sales advertising and marketing:

Celebrity endorsements

Advertisement through emotions

Direct Marketing: campaigns, title sponsors

Indirect advertisements: CSR initiatives

POS : TV commercials, print media advertisement, bill boards and

hoardings

Ad analysis
Key points

An insightful study of current trend of declining demand for cola

drinks and increasing demand for lemon-based soft drinks

Philanthropy projects undertaken
Brand image recovery upon the pesticide fiasco
Influence of local drinks and competition faced to beat them
Increasing emergence of energy drinks that have made inroads

into drinks industry