Analysis of Coca Cola Company

Question: Discuss about the Analysis of Coca Cola Company. Answer: Introduction Organizations that provide goods and services always engage in market research to identify the existing gaps in the market that needs to be filled .Introduction of new products in the market is a result of extensive market research. However before introducing a new product in the market certain deliberations have to be considered. A marketing plan has to be designed. The marketing plan specifies the specifications of the new product, its target market, methods of [promotion, budget opportunities and threats in the market among others. Situational Analysis Coca Cola Company deals with non-alcoholic carbonated beverages .It was founded in the year 1886 in Georgia, Atlanta United states of America. Introduction of new products into the market by the company has enabled it to emerge as the most dominant soft drink Company compared to all other Companies all over the world. Adoption of better tactics and strategies has been attributed to this trend. Product innovation has enabled the company to spread its market to over 200 countries throughout the world and enabled it to record over 1.8 billion sales every single day (Reid Bojanic, 2010). Coca Cola Zero is among other multiple products that the company produces. I was specifically designed to meet certain consumer needs which had not been met in the previous years by other companys brands specifically because it contains zero grams of sugar and zero grams of calories. There are a number of other competitors engaged in the same product diversification, among them PepsiCo and Monster beverage Corp. All these among others are fighting to have a larger market share within the beverage industry which has recorded significant growth in the recent past. It can therefore be said that the number of players in the market are many and the nature of competition is stiff (Ramaswamy Namakumari, 2009). However irrespective of this competition , Coca cola still has the opportunity of introducing its new product to all the countries in which it operates and venture into other countries in which it has not yet opened its doors. Marketing strategy Marketing strategy is a combination of all organizations goals in a single comprehensive plan. For sustainability and profit maximization purposes, an organization should base its marketing strategy on market research with emphasis being on the product mix (Panda, 2008). Target market Producers come up with new products with aim of meeting certain identified needs in the market .The target market constitute the people that the company intends to sell its products to (Malaval,Be?naroya Aflalo,2014). The target market for the new product will be teenage males. The product is an alternative to diet coke which many people had largely linked to women. This new product is meant to bring back male superiority by being identified as male drink. Market segmentation Producers often divide their markets into segments that are definable and measurable. Here potential buyers are classified into segments depending on their common needs. Targeting a specific market can save an organization from advertising costs as well as other costs that can be incurred as a result of offering their products to mass markets (Kotler, 2012). Coca Cola Company is the largest producer, marketer and distributor of soft non alcoholic beverages in the world. This means that its operations are distributed all over the world. For this new product, a new multisegment targeting strategy will be employed. This will involve the use of multiple market segments that will be well defined. A marketing mix for each of these segments will then be developed. Demographic characteristics of customers Each customer or segment of customers is defined by the special attributes that they possess. These particular traits that define a particular market segment are referred to as demographic characteristics. This particular product will be suitable for male teens who want the taste but not calories, irrespective of their marital status, race or color, Economic background or level of education (Kazmi,2007). Geographic characteristics of customers Each customer has his or her geographical location where they can be found. Location can determine accessibility or inaccessibility of a customer .Target customer for this product will basically be those from the countries in which the company operates. The product will then reach out to other geographical locations with time. Psychographic characteristics of customers Different customers usually have different personalities, attributes, lifestyles, interests as well as personal values. Such customers need to have products tailored towards their attributes. This new product will be designed to go along with the psychographic characteristics of the consumers. Segmentation of the market based on psychographic characteristics will enable the company to lay particular focus on meeting the needs of such customers. Buying situation Consumers usually make different buying decisions which might not be similar to those made previously Buying situation refers to the circumstances surrounding a particular purchase made by a consumer in terms of the consumer previous experience regarding that particular product as well as the availability of its vendors. Buying situation is also linked to the amount of effort taken by the consumer in order to make that particular decision (Jayachandran, 2014). The selected segments for product will be teens aged between 12 and 19 years. These segments will be distributed in different regions, in different countries. Marketing strategies for this product will focus on appealing to people within this age bracket irrespective of where they are located geographically. Strengths of the target market A market composed of teens can be very valuable. This because teens can easily influence what parents as well as other teens can buy. This is likely to create a demand for the coke zero products by other teens as well as other products from the company by their (Teens) parents Teens are also known to be great consumers of information from different types of media. Because of their affinity to social media, teens are likely top be reached by information concerning products more than people belonging to other age groups. While dealing with teens, advertisement costs can be significantly reduced because of the use of modern types of advertisements such as placing ads on disks commonly purchased by teens (Govindarajan, 2009). This is unlike the traditional methods of advertisements for the older generations. Weaknesses of the target market The major drawback for this target is financial challenges. It is clear that most of the people within this bracket are either in school or unemployed .This will mean that they might not have the money to buy products. This will affect the overall demand for the products Goals and objectives There a number of goals that will need to be met .These will be designed to help maintain a high level of focus in the organization as well as act as a motivating factor for the people at the center of the new product. The success of the new product or its impact in the market will be analyzed by evaluation of the goals and objectives that were initially set. These will be made public during the day of the launch of the new product. They include: To sell one million units of coke zero during the first month of launching Identify 0.5 million new prospects after launching the new product Address all issues raised regarding the new product within the a maximum of 24 hours in the first month of the product launch in the market Marketing Tactics Product Development Coca Cola Company clearly understands the importance of providing affordable but high quality products in order to meet the needs of its growing number of consumers. Sufficient amount of resources will also be set aside for continuous research in order to facilitate continuous development of high quality products for consumption by its customers. Product Branding Branding refers to a collection of attributes that the consumers expect from a product which has the possibility of influencing their willingness to purchase. In a market where profitability is highly dependent on repeated and continuous purchase, branding is an important factor in determining the success of products (Aaker, 2014). There are common attributes that distinguish Coca Cola products from products produced by other companies. Among these is cokes unique taste and color. Labeling of coke zero with normal coca cola colors will make the brand to be easily identified by customers. The product is expected to be a strong brand not only in the United States of America but also other countries as well. A brand name promises consumers certain benefits such as value for their money as well as quality. Branding is a form of marketing strategy in itself because it takes a period of time to gain consumers trust and approval of a certain product. Once this trust has been developed, sale s of the product are assured as consumers are willing to buy that commodity due to the continued trust they have on that brand to meet their needs. Branding will be aimed at making the product attractive to the eyes of consumers. Product packaging A right product but wrongly packaged can be a disastrous move for an organization. This is basically because people tend to buy what they see not what they dont see. Because of this reason, product packaging plays a significant role in product promotion. The packaging of a product says a lot about it and at times it usually determines the amount of sales for the product. A product that is well packaged will be preferred over poorly packaged products. Initially, the product will be packaged in 350 0ml attractive cans to be distributed to all outlets all over the world. Price Price plays a very important role in determining the success of a new product. Price usually refers to the amount of money that consumers will have to sacrifice in order to acquire a certain product (Applegate Johnson, 2007). Price for the new product will be reasonably affordable for many people within different regions. Setting fair prices will enable the product to move fast hence increasing the volume of goods sold. However price for goods and service is determined by a number of factors among them the cost incurred in the production process as well as cost of raw materials and labor and finally prices set by competitors. All these factors are going to be put into considerations to ensure that the products price will be the best in the market. Distribution Distribution is the process of moving a product from its point of production to their point of consumption. ie where consumers need them .Distribution provides utility for a good basically because if it is produced and kept by the producer its purpose will not be achieved. The company will ensure a continuous distribution of the products to all consumer outlets at the lowest cost possible so that the price cannot be affected. Promotion Communication regarding the existence of certain products in the market is quite important. Consumers need to be constantly told and reminded of the existence of products to keep their interests high. Promotion is therefore the process of creating awareness about the existence of certain goods and services. Promotion can be carried out in a number of ways. Internet In the modern world, the internet has become a very important tool for advertising. Many businesses have taken advantage of the increased usage of the internet to market their goods and services through offering information via the internet. Any business that has a desire of growing beyond its geographical region has no option but to adopt the use of the internet. All businesses should take advantage of this tool let the world know about their products and services. With increased computer literacy in many countries of the world, the internet is an effective way of marketing for business (Brown, 2012). The company will use its website coca-cola.co.za to let the world know about this new product. Basically all the information about the product will be provided here so consumers can easily access it. Television Television has been seen as the most conventional method of passing information to a large number of people. Thousands of companies pay media houses to have adverts about their products aired on television. Coca-cola company has used Television to advertise its products for a long time with the most recent advert being the Taste the feeling advert The company will also use television in order to reach large audiences. Television can be a very effective tool to reach out to teens because they form the dominant group in as much as watching television is concerned. I n this time and age, television sets are relatively cheap thus accessible to many people and therefore this is quite an effective way of advertising the product ( Marshall Johnston, 2009). Outdoor media Coca cola has engaged itself in games by sponsoring many sporting activities over the years. This has enabled the company to maintain the longest relationship with the sporting community It has partnered with other players in the industry to keep Olympic fans entertained. During such events free drinks from the company are given to the participants and attendees. This can be an excellent tool for marketing its products .The company can also use the same strategy to create awareness about its new product. Thus this can be a very good strategy for establishing and maintaining a remarkable relationship between the product and consumers (Clow Baack, 2012). Print media This is another strategy that the company can use to create awareness about it new product. Because the product is mostly targeted to teenagers, the company can result to placing their adverts on teenagers magazines to enable the information to diffuse easily. They can also place them on sport magazines or celebrity magazines which are all very familiar with teenagers. Financial projections Activity Cost Rationale Advertising USD 3,500,000 With a good budget it can be possible to prepare good adverts and use them in different media in different locations Ongoing online interactions USD 130,000 For accounts and payments to employees involved in the online interactions with customers Launch Party USD 25,000 It will also be important to promote the new product Implementation Controls Implementation control is a process designed to ensure the achievement of certain objectives during marketing plan implementation. For the process to be carried out satisfactorily the top management should be available to offer overall leadership for the implementation. There should also be effective coordination within the organization .Apart from that there should also be effective vertical and horizontal communication. For effective controls values of indicators must be set, these are values which can be observed and measured on regular basis. Control values such as the sales volume can provide a snapshot on how effective or ineffective the process is being implemented. It can also be done through comparing actual values and the planned values. The difference between the two can be used in decision making (Arun kumar Meenakshi, 2011). Conclusion Based on the above analysis its is important to ensure that the target market is identified and appropriate strategies for reaching that market put in place. Basically, different target markets require different marketing techniques. This should be identified beforehand. Additionally the market fro the new product should be segmented to save on advertising costs that would have been spent in reaching to the larger market. The budget for the plan should also be reasonable to avoid affecting the price of the new product References Aaker, D. A. (2014). 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