Pepsico And Coca-Col Place Or Distribution Channels On Sales Performance

Place or distribution channel is a way of ensuring that the product is available, accessible and acceptable to the customer. Without place, the customer will not have access to products, and there will be no revenue for the company. Distribution channels facilitate the flow of goods from the manufacturer to the customer, and the revenue generated through selling flows from the consumer to the manufacturer.

Kotler and Armstrong (2014), defined place or distribution as a set of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product available for use or consumption by consumers. A company can adopt multiple channels to get its product to the customers. (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders & Wong 2008) These channels can be direct and indirect. Choice of channel has a strong effect on sales performance (Keller 2013). Direct channels to reach customers could be company owned stores, phone and internet selling while indirect selling could be through intermediaries such as distributors or agents. (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders & Wong 2002).By using indirect channel, a company has to give up control over distribution and selling (Kotler, 2001). The company loses control over prices charged to end users, and how the product is being displayed. Indirect

Coca-Cola enjoys a dominant market position in most of the beverages’ markets on the continent. Coca-Cola has followed a good strategy in Africa, placing particular focus on how to get its product to consumers through its elaborate distribution network. The company has implemented innovative ways of achieving this and overcoming the general lack of formal retail, for example, by providing individual vendors with trolleys, kiosks and refrigerators. In Kenya ,Coca cola controls much of the market despite PepsiCo trying to challenge Coca colas dominance of the Kenyan