Coca-Cola in the Indian Market

Did you know that over 11,000 cans of Coca Cola products are consumed every second of every day? That is over a billion sodas a day! This is a long stretch from when the company was first founded in 1886 and only sold an average of nine drinks a day. Yes, over one hundred years ago it sold for 5 cents a glass and was poured from a jug. The Coke trademark is now as much American icon as apple pie and baseball. Coca Cola Bottling is currently a Fortune 500 company that posts a $3.53 billion dollar net profit. Ironically, only 30% of their sales come from the United States—which means the remaining 70% are from overseas customers.

With a population of 1 billion, according to its website, Coca Cola was reintroduced to the India consumers on October 23, 1993 only gaining third place in the cola market. (Pepsi holds the number one position.) The Pepsi Company (PepsiCo) took advantage of Coke’s 16-year absence to grasp a strong hold on its customers. Under the reigns of Wayne Calloway who took over 15 years ago, Pepsi has really given Coke a run for their money.

The battle between Coca Cola and Pepsi has been a long brewing war. Asking which is the better of the two is like asking who’s the better super hero, Superman or Batman? Will we ever know? Last year in India, in the typical “I’m gonna tell on you” school yard tactics that we’ve come to expect from these two companies, Pepsi had to call the police because Coke ‘wasn’t playing fair’. In fact, Coke India had acquired over 5 million of Pepsi’s bottles from recycling plants and didn’t want to give them back. A court order later and the two are playing nice again agreeing to “regular exchanges”. (Kripalani and Clifford, 2003)

So why hasn’t Coca Cola found massive profits in India as it has in the US? Many believe that it is because they are still feeling the backlash of the bad decisions the company made over the past fifteen years. Handicapped by a fickle market and numerous executive turnovers (five within fourteen years), Coca Cola has had to restructure, revamp and renegotiate how to get in the good graces of the Indian people. (Kripalani & Clifford, 2003) To get back on top of their game, Coca Cola will have to change their direction as to how they plan to win over their consumers—the four P’s.