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Beverage major Coca-Cola on Monday said the stepping up of focus on affordable price points and increasing the availability of its product portfolio have helped its India business clock about 3 billion transactions in the first quarter ended March 31.
The company, which released its global earnings, said growth in developing and emerging markets for the quarter was led by China, India and Brazil.
Affordability
Commenting on the macroeconomic conditions in various markets on the earnings call, James Quincey, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company, noted that India‘s economy remains resilient with a strong job market and robust consumption.
He added that affordability has been a key driver in developing and emerging markets and helped in “driving approximately 3 billion transactions at affordable price points in India” in the first quarter. The company said this was driven by single-serve packs and at-home entry packs.
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In its earnings release, Coca-Cola said growth of the India business was driven by addition of retailers, investments made in cold-drink equipment and the strategy to offer the right products at the right price points to recruit consumers. “During the first quarter, the company and its bottling partners increased availability by more than 300,000 stores and approximately 40,000 coolers ahead of the summer season. The company also increased household penetration via targeted promotions on large packages for the at-home channel,” it added.
“This integrated execution yielded strong results, as the company grew revenue ahead of transactions and grew transactions ahead of volume,” it added. The beverage major also said it grew value share in sparkling soft drinks and juice categories in India.
Growth drivers
In terms of its performance in the Asia-Pacific region in the March quarter, the company added that unit case volume grew 10 per cent in the region which was led by China, India and Australia.
In terms of performance of its company-owned bottling network, Coca-Cola in its earning statement said, “Unit case volume declined 1 per cent, primarily driven by the impact of refranchising bottling operations, partially offset by strong growth in India.”
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