Coca-Cola has been spicing up its drinks with desi flavours, literally. While masala was the flavour of the season last summer, it is king of fruits this year.
KOLKATA: Softdrink major Coca-Cola has been spicing up its drinks with desi flavours, literally. While masala was the flavour of the season last summer, it is king of fruits this year.
The company is currently test-marketing a Maaza variant ‘aam panna’ in Uttar Pradesh. Industry sources say Coke also test-marketed “masala” Limca in variants like jaljeera, mint and ginger in and around Delhi last year.
However, a national roll-out of these flavours is not expected to happen this year since the backend logistics are not yet in place, sources added.
A Coke spokesperson told DNA Money: “We are looking at a variety of options. We need to identify the consumers’ need states and offer solutions.” He, however, declined to term aam panna as a desi flavour. “Maaza, Limca etc are all home-grown brands in that sense,” he said.
Indian consumers drink 120 billion litres of beverages. However, the share of the ready-to-drink packaged beverages is only 4% of this.
“This shows that there is a tremendous scope for growth in India for the packaged, ready-to-drink segment. This is true for both sparkling and still beverages,” the spokesperson added.
Coke has also brought in some packaging innovation by recently introducing the 1.25 litre pack for its offerings. Consumers have the option of the 600 ml PET bottle - a sort of “on-the-go” pack for 1-2 people. On the other end is the large, 2-litre pack catering to large celebrations.
The company also realised that the 2-litre pack did not fit into a regular 165 litre fridge. Thus, in an India-specific strategy, it indigenised the packaging to launch the 1.25 litre pack.
“There was so far no in-between size for the family of 4-5 members as part of regular celebrations. So, an area needed to be plugged with the 1.25 litre pack,” said the spokesperson.
In India, Coke’s unit case volume increased 18% in the last quarter of 2007, cycling 12% growth in the prior quarter and 14% in the year.
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