Introduction
Coca-cola Company and PepsiCo are observed to be carbonated soft drinks manufacturing companies that have expanded and spread its distribution to many countries due to their quality products and marketing strategies that they use.
Coca-cola Company and PepsiCo are two of the largest and recognized companies which make remarkable profits in the United States. They are evident to invest millions of dollars per year in the global marketing campaigns, and this is proof of the financial stability of the two companies.
The main differences between the two companies can be drawn on consideration of different factors that affect the operation of the companies and strategies that the companies use to ensure that they remain at the top position in the USA competitive market.
However, these two companies apply some similar approaches and operational styles that enable them to boost their sales and consequently grow and expand.
Discussion
Considering acquisition and divestments of Pepsi Company, it is clear that the company expanded between the 1970s and 1990s through acquisition of businesses that were evident to be faint of its core focus of parceled food and beverage products.
However, the company exited the non-core business lines and integrated a new company that was well established as the sales of the products offered increased immensely (Matthew & Betsy, 2001). Reflecting on the competition exhibited between Pepsi and other companies in the USA market, it has been observed that the coca-cola company has been a threat to the operations of PepsiCo.
Due to some operational factors and challenges, PepsiCo has been unable to beat Coca-Cola Company in the competitive market as it made little sales compared to the other company which maintained high sales and held higher market share in carbonated soft drink operations within the USA for 112 years (Andrew, 2010).
About products and brands that PepsiCo offers, the company’s current products lines are observed to include several brands that are estimated to raise a considerable profit of hundreds of billions in some collective annual retail auctions.
It operates with many brands within the food and beverage industry, but the primary identifier of its main brands is the quality and marketing strategies that the company applies. Coca-Cola Company is reflected to be the largest drinks company globally as t controls more than half the world market in drinks that are carbonated.
With consideration of the acquisitions of the company, it has operated on changing its operational strategies which involved changing of the brands that the company offered and consequently improving its sales. About the products and brands that the company offers, it is clear that the company offers more than 500 brands in several countries besides its brand name coca-cola (Giebelhaus, 2008).
Marketing strategies of the two companies
However, the two companies target the same group of consumers to their products, the marketing strategies that they use to attract and maintain consumers differ in the sense that the planning tools and communication medium the two companies use for advertisement and promotion are different (Philip & Gary, 2011).
There is a great difference between the web pages of the two companies as Coca-Cola Company uses www.cocacola.com while PepsiCo uses www.pepsi.com. These websites are considered as the most effective and appropriate method of advertising and promoting the products offered by the two companies as they can reach a wider population compared to other media like televisions and newspapers.
The pages of the two companies have different style and content in that the Coca-Cola sites have many similar marketing tools that are used in international sites than PepsiCo. Coca-Cola’s web pages are easy to navigate compared to PepsiCo’s web pages, and this brings about the rise in the popularity of the Coca-Cola Company.
It is also clear that Coca-Cola Company uses its websites not only to attract new customers but also to build strong and reliable relationships with the existing consumers as they provide adequate information regarding the company and the products that it offers.
However, PepsiCo website provides the users with a different experience that are not evident in coca-cola sites such as animations and sounds. It is also observed that aesthetically, Pepsi’s websites are better compared to Coca-Cola and this can be viewed as a cause to rise in popularity of the company that consequently contributed to the company beating the coca-cola company in 2005.
The companies use dominating spout sales as a marketing strategy to promote the brands and products that it manufactures. They also use advertising to attract consumers and mostly, the companies’ target is the teenagers by encouraging them to develop buying habits and develop pressure to drink the brands offered by the companies.
Conclusion
Generally, the marketing strategies and product lines employed by the two companies differ in some way though they aim at attracting and maintaining the same consumers as they both offer soft carbonated drinks. The marketing plans of the two companies also differ contributing to uneven popularity and difference in sales of the products that the two companies offer.
The internal and external factors that affect the two businesses also differ. However, there are some similar approaches that the companies use to attract customers such as advertising techniques that they use like the incorporation of the internet to advertise and promote their products via the websites.
Graphical presentation of the data
References
Andrew, K. (2010). What PepsiCo hopes to gain from the merger with its two largest bottlers. Beverage World. Retrieved on 23rd December 2011from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi_Beverages_Company
Giebelhaus, W. A. (2008). Coca-Cola Company. The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council. Retrieved on 23rd December 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Beverages_Company
Matthew, H. and Betsy, S. (2001). Pepsi Bought Quaker. Now What? Forbes. Retrieved on 23rd December 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi_Beverages_Company
Philip, K. and Gary, A. (2011). Principles of Marketing, (10th Ed). Prentice-Hall: United States of America.
