lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (07/11/85)
It is doubtful that "classic" Coke will be priced substantially differently from "regular" Coke, at least in the short term (except for particular promotions that have been present for the new formula for quite some time). The manufacturing costs of the two are exceptionally similar. The primary push for the availability of the old formula was extremely poor sales in certain areas of the country, especially, oddly enough, outside of major metro areas like L.A., N.Y., S.F., etc. The new formula performed horribly in the South, where it sometimes reportedly can be difficult to get a Pepsi in some areas if your life depended on it (remember that Coke world headquarters is in Atlanta). The new formula is performing very well internationally, where I believe something like 60% of Coke's sales are originated. Apparently sweeter drinks really do better outside the U.S., and there are fewer historical, psychological tie-ins such as people have over here with the "old" formula. So Coke doesn't lose on this score. It now becomes something of a waiting game. There are no accurate long-term sales figures for the new formula, since sales to this point were driven largely by curiosity and major promotional campaigns/discounts. Coke will now sit back and see what the local bottlers (who were screaming for the return of the old formula, since after all the hoopla their sales were still pretty much flat instead of increasing substantially) do, and how markets and other vendors partition their sales between the two similar products. From this data will come the long-term distribution and pricing decisions. So if you want to have immediate impact, start buying the old forumula as soon as you can. I believe that a 1% change in the market for these beverages is worth about $250 million/year... --Lauren--
root@trwatf.UUCP (Lord Frith) (07/12/85)
In article <710@vortex.UUCP> lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) writes: > > The manufacturing costs of the two are exceptionally similar. > The primary push for the availability of the old formula was > extremely poor sales in certain areas of the country, especially, > oddly enough, outside of major metro areas like L.A., N.Y., S.F., etc. > The new formula performed horribly in the South, where it sometimes reportedly > can be difficult to get a Pepsi in some areas if your life depended on > it (remember that Coke world headquarters is in Atlanta). It's only been a month since they introduced the "New Coke." For a large corporation with a global customer base, a mere month sounds like very little time to put together significant sales and marketing statistics. I suspect Coke had it's all of it's bases covered ahead of time... every customer response predicted and every contingency planned for. Somewhat like the war gaming theorists who play out various scenarios of global nuclear conflict so as to prepare ahead of time for responses that are optimal to our side. In this case... the customer is the enemy. Big corporations don't introduce new products on a large scale without making contingency plans. They simply aren't that spontaneous, although they put up a front of being "sincerely surpised at the customer response" and "giving the customer what he wants." > It now becomes something of a waiting game. There are no accurate > long-term sales figures for the new formula, since sales to this point > were driven largely by curiosity and major promotional campaigns/discounts. > Coke will now sit back and see what the local bottlers (who were > screaming for the return of the old formula, since after all the hoopla > their sales were still pretty much flat instead of increasing substantially) > do, and how markets and other vendors partition their sales between > the two similar products. From this data will come the long-term > distribution and pricing decisions. Thus the "Classic Coke" may well remain the number one seller and "New Coke" the second fiddle. -- UUCP: ...{decvax,ihnp4,allegra}!seismo!trwatf!root - Lord Frith ARPA: trwatf!root@SEISMO "Ahhhhhh... the smell of cuprinol and mahogany. It excites me to... acts of passion... acts of... ineptitude."
roth@ut-sally.UUCP (Mark Roth) (07/13/85)
Does anyone know if there will be "Classic" versions of all the varieties of Coke: Diet, Caffeine Free, Diet Caffeine Free, Low Sodium, etc.? Or are these still the old formula? Distribution: Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas Keywords:
rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson) (07/15/85)
In article <710@vortex.UUCP> lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) writes: >The new formula performed horribly in the South, where it sometimes reportedly >can be difficult to get a Pepsi in some areas if your life depended on >it (remember that Coke world headquarters is in Atlanta). Very true. I grew up in mid-Alabama (Auburn) and south Mississippi (near Biloxi) and I was 13 years old (1975) before I saw my first Pepsi in a grocery store. It was probably me just being inattentive since I was raised on Coke, but I know for sure that up until that time I had never even tasted a Pepsi. Of course, now I live in North Carolina, where Pepsi originated..... -- The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3313 (Cornet 291) alias: Curtis Jackson ...![ ihnp4 ulysses cbosgd mgnetp ]!burl!rcj ...![ ihnp4 cbosgd akgua masscomp ]!clyde!rcj
cff@uvaee.UUCP (Chuck Ferrara) (07/18/85)
In article <710@vortex.UUCP> lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) writes: >The new formula is performing very well internationally, where I >believe something like 60% of Coke's sales are originated. Apparently >sweeter drinks really do better outside the U.S., and there are fewer >historical, psychological tie-ins such as people have over here with >the "old" formula. So Coke doesn't lose on this score. I guess Coke should keep the old formula home and export the new stuff overseas. Foreign beer companies already do this by sending us watered down beers, because that's what many (myself excluded) Americans happen to like. -- Chuck Ferrara @ U. Va. Dept. of EE; Charlottesville,Va. 22901 UUCP: ...decvax!mcnc!ncsu!uvacs!uvaee!cff (804)924-7316