The Hindu Business Line : Pepsi gets ready for the summer months

Beverages major PepsiCo is revving up for the summer months with plans for new launches, increased investment in expanding its chilling infrastructure, an enhanced distribution network of recent rollouts, and ramped up marketing initiatives.

Several of the launches are slated to be in the fruit juices segment. "This summer would see newer variants of Tropicana," Mr Abhiram Seth, Executive Director - exports and external affairs, PepsiCo India said. The company had earlier launched fruit fusion, nectars and guava flavour of Tropicana juices apart from the existing mango and litchi flavours.

PepsiCo is also keen to promote its sports drink Gatorade at more "points of sweat" — the marketing catchline. "We would expand the distribution network for Gatorade to make it more widely available," Mr Seth said.

"Our focus this summer would also be to innovatively market our drinks. For example, we have already launched the Pepsi Cafechino and the new-look Mountain Dew," he said, adding that an aggressive campaign for Mirinda, which was recently re-launched with new packaging, was on the cards. "The launch of Pepsi Cafechino is a precursor to our plans for the summer," he said.

However, this summer is unlikely to see a reduction in prices in the beverages segment despite the eight per cent reduction in excise duty on aerated drinks in the Union Budget. "If you work out the maths, the proposal to scrap the 8 per cent SED on aerated water and reduce the excise levy to a flat 16 per cent will translate into a benefit of 28 paise per 200 ml bottle which is difficult to pass on to the consumer," Mr Seth said.

"We would, however, re-direct the savings to investing in cold storage facilities, chilling infrastructure and expanding the distribution network," Mr Seth commented.

So with the bevy of new adverts on Mirinda, Mountain Dew and Pepsi Cafechino, Pepsi hopes to strike the right chord with the consumer this summer.