Category Captain: Canned and Packaged Beverages—Soft Drinks: Coca-Cola

Following the 2010 merger with its largest bottler, Coca-Cola North America has become an even bigger presence in the beverage world. While the company has always been viewed as a key supplier, its category management team found room for improvement in the past year. The merger afforded the company an opportunity to transform and redesign its interactions with retail customers. At the core of this vision is a new category advisory services team committed to establishing Coca-Cola as the top industry insights leader, delivering deep consumer and shopper knowledge and the comprehensive solutions its retail partners are looking for.

The category services team has focused on three primary strategies: 1) providing differentiated, timely, relevant and actionable insights and solutions; 2) delivering neutral, impartial and objective total store and beverage solutions with wall-to-wall category expertise and thought leadership; and 3) implementing a strategic framework for merchandising organization, assortment and adjacencies.

Examples of Coca-Cola’s recent category management accomplishments include:

• Working closely with a leading national supermarket chain using shopper card data in special promotions, one of which resulted in a double-digit dollar sales increase
• Driving product innovation by launching the aluminum bottle, a profitable new business expander, as well as mini-can products
• Leading the sustainability trend with the Dasani plant bottle
• Creating eye-catching displays tied to popular sporting events such as the NCAA Final Four