It was expected to give a tough fight to brands Coca-Cola and Pepsi. But, four months after launch, Big Cola, the Latin American soft drink, is hardly visible in this city, where the first phase of launch was expected to kick off.
Sorin Voinea, director, marketing, Asia-Pacific, Aje Group, the company marketing Big Cola, says: “Yes, the rollout is slow. But we have not taken the product off shop shelves."
Big Cola, according to trade sources, is available in small pockets in the city, mostly in B- and C-class outlets. Retailers say Aje is struggling to break into the cola distribution network, dominated by Coke and Pepsi. Traditional trade constitutes 90 per cent of sales for a cola company and is an important channel. But thanks to brand pull and sustained investment in this channel, Coke and Pepsi have a strong grip here. "From providing chillers to danglers to incentivising retailers who aggressively push their products, Coke and Pepsi have left no stone unturned in ensuring a retail push for their brands," says Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak Advisors.
Both Coke and Pepsi reach over a million outlets each in the country. Of this, metros such as Mumbai play a significant role, since carbonated beverage consumption is higher in cities than rural areas. In recent years, however, both Coke and Pepsi have been going into the rural areas aggressively, in their bid to conquer new markets.
Experts also say what is impeding Big Cola's progress in India is its presence in the PET format. Worldwide, cola consumption in PET is higher than in glass bottles. In India, it is the opposite. Returnable Glass Bottles constitute a third of a cola company's sales and to be regarded as a serious player, a presence in the glass segment is a must, say experts. Typically, cola companies push glass bottles at lower price points.
A 300-ml Coke or Pepsi glass bottle, for instance, costs Rs 13. In the case of PET, the pack size starts at 500 ml, costing not less than Rs 25-30 a unit, say experts. In the case of Big Cola, the product is available in three flavours - orange, lime and cola - at Rs 12 for a 300-ml PET bottle. The company has a 500-ml bottle at Rs 20, a 1.5-litre bottle at Rs 40 and a 3-litre bottle at over Rs 50, respectively.
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In an earlier conversation with Business Standard, Voinea had indicated there were no plans by Aje to get into the glass bottle segment in India."We have 30 plants across the world," he had said. "All controlled by us and vertically integrated. We do not have plans to change this model in India."
Aje's bottling unit is located at Patalganga in Maharashtra. The company says besides Mumbai and some parts of Maharashtra, the products are also being pushed into Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.