Coca Cola Tweaks Bottle Sizes in Pricing Move

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coca-colaCoca-Cola Co. plans to offer its beverages in a widening variety of package sizes in the U.S. this year as it tries to boost its pricing power while grappling with the twin challenges of higher commodity costs and price-sensitive consumers.

The soft-drinks giant recently began pilot testing 1.25-liter bottles of its flagship Coke brand at supermarkets in some parts of the country at a price of 99 cents. At the same time, it raised prices for its conventional two-liter bottles in those markets, after previously offering them as low as 99 cents.

“We will surgically continue to seek opportunities” to increase unit prices, Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola’s chief executive, said Wednesday at an investor conference.

Coca-Cola began introducing 16-ounce bottles of its chilled beverages in the U.S. last year to complement its popular 20-ounce version, also in a bid to raise the price for the larger-sized, single-serving product while offering a lower-priced alternative for price-conscious customers.

Prices for nonalcoholic beverages in the U.S. rose 1.5% in January, more than in any other grocery category, with a sharp rise in carbonated drinks, according to the Labor Department.

Coca-Cola estimated earlier this month that its commodity costs-including sweeteners and plastic-would rise by $300 million to $400 million this year. At the same time, about a tenth of the U.S. work force remains unemployed, crimping household budgets.

The increasingly “segmented” packaging strategy is aimed at ensuring Coca-Cola doesn’t “shock the consumer” with higher prices, said Steve Cahillane, a senior Coca-Cola executive.

Coca-Cola saw its organic sales volume of juices, sodas and other beverages in North America increase 3% from a year earlier in the fourth quarter of 2010, the third straight quarter of growth.

Mr. Kent said Wednesday the company should get a further boost from U.S. demographics in the coming years. By 2020, he said, the overall U.S. population will have grown by an estimated 30 million people. The country also is expected to boast 31 million teenagers, the third-largest number in the world after those of China and India.

“That’s why we are so bullish about our prospects for growth,” added Mr. Kent.

{The Wall Street Journal/Matzav.com Newscenter}


4 COMMENTS

  1. It is well known that Coke Cola is the epitomie of terrible “junk food.” Several times I have posted here two sharp expressions of this fact.

    1.) I well remember the afternoon when I was sitting in the classroom the fifth grade class I was in and how the teacher related:

    “There are only TWO people in the entire world who know what is in Coke Cola, AND THEY DO NOT LET THEIR CHILDREN HAVE IT!”

  2. (continuation of previous comment #3)

    2.) To understand the next piece, B’Ezras HaShem, we need to be aware of the following point.

    In the Halachos of Kashrus – the Torah laws of our food – for there to be an issue of whether a particular item is permitted or not permitted for us to eat, that item has to be a piece of FOOD. How can we determine if something is or is not a piece of food? The minimul standard is that the item has to be edible at least for a dog. If the item is something that a dog could eat it, then it is termed a “food,” and then we need to examine whether or not its ingredients are permitted for us to eat. If though, it is so terrible that even a dog could not eat it, then it cannot be called a “food,” and no matter what non-Kosher ingredients it has, there is no prohibition on eating it.

    So again, for an item to be called a “food,” it must be fit for a dog to be able to eat it. In Lashon HaKodesh this is expressed: “Roi L’Achilas Kelev” – “Fit for the eating of a dog.”

    One of the major Torah communal leaders of the mid-1900’s was Rav Eliezer Silver, ZT’L. One time, he was designated to invenstigate if Coke Cola could be given a Hechsher – a certification of being Kosher. So he approached the directors of the Coke corporation with the proposed project. He explained to them that what he wanted certainly had nothing to do with, Chas V’Shalom – G-D Forbid – trying to steal a company’s business secrets; rather, issue was that for him to be able to determine if their soft drink was Kosher, he would have to know what are ALL of its ingredients — including all of its “secret” ingredients. So they told him. At that, in his humorous funny style, he exclaimed:

    “THIS DOES NOT NEED A HECHSHER! IT IS NOT ROI L’ACHILAS KELEV!!”

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