Coca-Cola is a large corporation leading the soft drinks and beverages market. The global company is known around the world for its brand packaging, memorable advertising, and innovative flavors. Throughout the years, Coca-Cola focused on its extensive brand, creating a strong image that associates the red color of the company with the product. Furthermore, although Coca-Cola is known for its soft drink of the same name, it has a variety of other products that bring annual profit and allow it to invest in branding and marketing. Moreover, with the growing interest in healthy eating and lifestyle, Coca-Cola has made the effort to create sugar-free alternatives to its drinks, appealing to a wider range of customers.
Some of the strategies Coca-Cola implemented include market penetration, market development, and product development. These are intensive market strategies and have played a significant role in Coca-Cola’s gaining of a competitive advantage. Firstly, it is the appeal to the existing and loyal clientele by keeping the prices low and using clever marketing and seasonal discounts. Secondly, the company has expanded globally and has penetrated numerous markets, as mentioned above, including Smart Water and various local drinks.
The company employed several strategies to gain and secure its competitive advantage. Some of these include Porter’s cost leadership, differentiation, and focus (Pratap, 2018), with the main focus on the former. By establishing affordable costs for their products, Coca-Cola ensures both availability and accessibility to them. Hence, there is not only a loyal base of customer, but the new customers are more likely to opt for the low-cost and well-branded soft drink.
By staying on top of the trends and maintaining the existing branding, Coca-Cola should have no trouble sustaining the competitive advantage it has today. Since it has over the years become a cult drink rather than just a simple beverage, it practically sells itself. However, it is important to keep track of the competitors and the changing trends in the market nevertheless.
Reference
Pratap, A. (2018). Coca Cola Generic and Intensive Strategies. Notesmatic. Web.