In
a global first, Coca-Cola India is creating an independent business
channel to innovate, sell and distribute its juices, energy drinks,
powder drinks and niche products like mixers to increase its stake in
the soaring market for non-fizzy drinks.
“This will help fortify our existing business and execute the distribution and sales of new products for Coca-Cola India through a viable alternate sales and distribution system,” said T Krishnakumar, CEO of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, which will run the new vertical, Minute Maid & Alternative Beverages division.
Minute Maid juices, Burn energy drink, Schweppes mixers like tonics and soda, Nestea ice tea and powder drink Fanta Fun Taste will be brought under the new division. It will also manage all non-fizzy beverages that Coca-Cola will launch in the future.
“This is first of its kind investment in sales and distribution for the Coca-Cola system worldwide, where an entire alternate system is being set up within a country for a selective set of beverage offerings,” a Coca-Cola spokesman said. The vertical will build new and nascent channels such as office complexes, gyms and spas, food courts, shopping malls and petrol stations for different products under its fold, besides using Coca-Cola’s existing network and accelerating its presence in grocery and convenience stores. “Specialised distributors will be appointed for specific channels,” the spokesperson said.
Fizzy drinks Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca and Sprite will continue to be distributed through the firm’s existing sales and distribution network that covers more than 1.5 million retail outlets, out of an estimated 8 million potential outlets it can reach in the country.
Analysts say the move is aimed at getting a first-mover advantage in fortified drinks, which though small, are growing in high double digits.
Senior VP Milind Pingle, who was earlier operations VP for the central region, will head the new vertical that will have 200 employees to start with.
It will leverage the firm’s existing supply chain infrastructure, manufacturing plants, depots and other backend infrastructure to source its supplies and service the markets.
The division will be set up in phases across different markets in the country over the next three years.
The move comes a month after Coca-Cola India announced that its Atlantabased parent and bottling partners will invest $2 billion (. 10,000 crore) in the country over the next five years beginning 2012 — the single largest investment in one phase for the firm since it reentered the country 18 years ago.
Announcing the investment, Ahmet C Bozer, Coca-Cola’s president, Eurasia and Africa group, had said that India could become one of the top five markets for the company globally by the end of this decade.
India now ranks among Coca-Cola’s top 10 markets in volume globally, and is the largest market in the Eurasia and Africa Group.
“This will help fortify our existing business and execute the distribution and sales of new products for Coca-Cola India through a viable alternate sales and distribution system,” said T Krishnakumar, CEO of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, which will run the new vertical, Minute Maid & Alternative Beverages division.
Minute Maid juices, Burn energy drink, Schweppes mixers like tonics and soda, Nestea ice tea and powder drink Fanta Fun Taste will be brought under the new division. It will also manage all non-fizzy beverages that Coca-Cola will launch in the future.
“This is first of its kind investment in sales and distribution for the Coca-Cola system worldwide, where an entire alternate system is being set up within a country for a selective set of beverage offerings,” a Coca-Cola spokesman said. The vertical will build new and nascent channels such as office complexes, gyms and spas, food courts, shopping malls and petrol stations for different products under its fold, besides using Coca-Cola’s existing network and accelerating its presence in grocery and convenience stores. “Specialised distributors will be appointed for specific channels,” the spokesperson said.
Fizzy drinks Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca and Sprite will continue to be distributed through the firm’s existing sales and distribution network that covers more than 1.5 million retail outlets, out of an estimated 8 million potential outlets it can reach in the country.
Analysts say the move is aimed at getting a first-mover advantage in fortified drinks, which though small, are growing in high double digits.
Senior VP Milind Pingle, who was earlier operations VP for the central region, will head the new vertical that will have 200 employees to start with.
It will leverage the firm’s existing supply chain infrastructure, manufacturing plants, depots and other backend infrastructure to source its supplies and service the markets.
The division will be set up in phases across different markets in the country over the next three years.
The move comes a month after Coca-Cola India announced that its Atlantabased parent and bottling partners will invest $2 billion (. 10,000 crore) in the country over the next five years beginning 2012 — the single largest investment in one phase for the firm since it reentered the country 18 years ago.
Announcing the investment, Ahmet C Bozer, Coca-Cola’s president, Eurasia and Africa group, had said that India could become one of the top five markets for the company globally by the end of this decade.
India now ranks among Coca-Cola’s top 10 markets in volume globally, and is the largest market in the Eurasia and Africa Group.
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