LogFAQs > #965914654

DarkMinun posted...

I don't think they're competing with Pepsi. Pepsi sells less than half what Coke does at retail, sells their 24s at a discount to even acheive that, and snaps up every restaurant contract available in a desperate attempt to make up some of the difference.

Cutting down on sugar and carbonation reduces input costs. THe standard bottle of Coke here is now 500ml rather than 591, with no associated price reduction. Mini cans sell for more than regular cans. Coke is so far ahead of Pepsi that they can sell less product for more money with no noticeable reduction in market share. THey're doing his because they can, and it makes more money for them.

Yeah, you are probably right. Cheaping out tends to be the answer for most corporate decisions. Although, to muddy the waters a bit, in the 80s Coke did replace thier previous version of Coke with New Coke to explicitly compete with Pepsi, so there must've been some type of fear that the marketing & sales team saw for them to try to copy Pepsi at one time. And yeah the blow back was enough for them to switch back almost immediately, but I wouldn't preclude that logic for switching to be totally eliminated and for them to change the flavor on the down low.